MONEY 
MAGIC 

".    HAMLIN     * 


,: 


LSee  p.  344 


HE    ROSE    AND    WALKED    UP    AND    DOWN 


MONEY    MAGIC 

A 


BY 

HAMLIN     GARLAND 

AUTHOR  OF 

'THE  CAPTAIN  OK  THE  GRAY-HORSE  TROOP' 
"  IIESPER  "  ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED    BY 
J.   N.    MARC  HAN  D 


NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 
HARPER   &    BROTHERS    PUBLISHERS 

MCMVI  I 


Copyright,  1907,  by  HAMLIN  GARLAND. 

All  rights  reserved. 
Published  October,  1907. 


P51732 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGB 

I.  THE  CLERK  OF  THE  GOLDEN  EAGLE    ....  i 

II.  MARSHALL  HANEY  CHANGES  HEART     ....  16 

III.  BERTHA  YIELDS  TO  TEMPTATION 22 

IV.  HANEY  MEETS  AN  AVENGER 34 

V.  BERTHA'S  UPWARD  FLIGHT 43 

VI.  THE  HANEY  PALACE 51 

VII.  BERTHA  REPULSES  AN  ENEMY 62 

VIII.  BERTHA  RECEIVES  AN  INVITATION 74 

IX.  BERTHA  MEETS  BEN  FORDYCE 83 

X.  BEN  FORDYCE  CALLS  ON  HORSEBACK  ....  100 
XL  BEN  BECOMES  ADVISER  TO  MRS.  HANEY      .     .  113 

XII.  ALICE  HEATH  HAS  A  VISION 130 

XIII.  BERTHA'S  YELLOW  CART .  146 

XIV.  THE  JOLLY  SEND-OFF 155 

XV.  MART'S  VISIT  TO  His  SISTER 164 

XVI.  A  DINNER  AND  A  PLAY           178 

XVII.  BERTHA  BECOMES  A  PATRON  OF  ART  ....  190 

XVIII.  BERTHA'S  PORTRAIT  is  DISCUSSED 201 

XIX.  THE  FARTHER  EAST 216 

XX.  BERTHA  MEETS  MANHATTAN 229 

XXI.  BERTHA  MAKES  A  PROMISE    „      „ 242 

XXII.  THE  SERPENT'S  COIL 255 

XXIII.  BERTHA'S  FLIGHT           , 264 


912755 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

XXIV.  THE  HANEYS  RETURN  TO  THE  PEAKS  .     .     .  284 

XXV.  BERTHA'S  DECISION 301 

XXVI.  ALICE  VISITS  HANEY 312 

XXVII.  MARSHALL  HANEY'S  SENTENCE 325 

XXVIII.  VIRTUE  TRIUMPHS 338 

XXIX.  MARSHALL  HANEY'S  LAST  TRAIL 347 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


HE  ROSE  AND  WALKED  UP  AND  DOWN  ....  Frontispiece 
HE  THRUST  THE  MUZZLE  OF  HIS  WEAPON  ALMOST 

AGAINST  HANEY'S  BREAST  AND  FIRED      .     .     .  Facing  p.   36 

OFF  THEY  DASHED  WITH  FURIOUS  CLATTER  ...  "  108 
A  WOMAN  HAD  OPENED  THE  DOOR,  AND  CALLED  OUT: 

"WHO  DO  YOU  WANT  TO  FIND?" "  170 

THE  YOUNG  WIFE  WAITED  IN  BREATHLESS  SILENCE 

FOR  HIM  TO  SPEAK "  222 

SHE,  OVERWHELMED  BY  HIS  GENEROSITY,  COULD 

ONLY  NOD "  252 

ALL  HER  REPUGNANCE  GONE,  SHE  PUT  HER  ARM 

ABOUT  HIS  SHOULDERS "  332 

HE  LAY  WITH  HIS  HEAD  PILLOWED  UPON  HIS  LEFT 

ARM "         352 


MONEY    MAGIC 


MONEY    MAGIC 

CHAPTER   I 

THE  CLERK  OF  THE  GOLDEN  EAGLE 

SIBLEY  JUNCTION  is  in  the  sub-tropic  zone  of 
Colorado.  It  lies  in  a  hot,  dry,  but  immensely 
productive  valley  at  an  altitude  of  some  four  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea,  a  village  laced  with  irrigating 
ditches,  shaded  by  big  cotton-wood-trees,  and  beat  upon 
by  a  genial,  generous-minded  sun.  The  boarders  at 
the  Golden  Eagle  Hotel  can  sit  on  the  front  stoop  and 
see  the  snow-filled  ravines  of  the  mountains  to  the 
south,  and  almost  hear  the  thunder  crashing  round  old 
Uncompahgre,  even  when  the  broad  leaves  above  their 
heads  are  pulseless  and  the  heat  of  the  mid-day  light  is 
a  cataract  of  molten  metal. 

It  is,  as  I  have  said,  a  productive  land,  for  upon  this 
ashen,  cactus-spotted,  repellent  flat  men  have  directed 
the  cool,  sweet  water  of  the  upper  world,  and  wherever 
this  life-giving  fluid  touches  the  soil  grass  and  grain 
spring  up  like  magic. 

For  all  its  wild  and  beautiful  setting,  Sibley  is  now 
a  town  of  farmers  and  traders  rather  than  of  miners. 
The  wagons  entering  the  gates  are  laden  with  wheat 
and  melons  and  peaches  rather  than  with  ore  and  giant- 

i 


... ...  MONEY.  MAGIC 

powder.,  .and  the'  hotels 'are  frequented  by  ranchers 
of  prosaic ->'spefcf,Jb-y  passiftg  drummers  for  shoes  and 
sugars,  and  by  the  barbers  arid' clerks  of  near-by  shops. 
It  is,  in  fact,  a  bit  of  slow-going  village  life  dropped 
between  the  diabolism  of  Cripple  Creek  and  the  decay 
of  Creede. 

Nevertheless,  now  and  then  a  genuine  trailer  from 
the  heights,  or  cow-man  from  the  mesas,  does  drop  into 
town  on  some  transient  business  and,  with  his  peculiar 
speech  and  stride,  remind  the  lazy  town-loafers  of  the 
vigorous  life  going  on  far  above  them.  Such  types 
nearly  always  put  up  at  the  Eagle  Hotel,  which  was  a 
boarding-house  advanced  to  the  sidewalk  of  the  main 
street  and  possessing  a  register. 

At  the  time  of  this  story  trade  was  good  at  the  Eagle 
for  two  reasons.  Mrs.  Oilman  was  both  landlady  and 
cook,  and  an  excellent  cook,  and,  what  was  still  more 
alluring,  Bertha,  her  pretty  daughter,  was  day-clerk 
and  general  manager.  Customers  of  the  drummer  type 
are  very  loyal  to  their  hotels,  and  amazingly  sensitive  to 
female  charm — therefore  Bertha,  who  would  have  been 
called  an  attractive  girl  anywhere,  was  widely  known 
and  tenderly  recalled  by  every  brakeman  on  the  line. 
She  was  tall  and  straight,  with  brown  hair  and  big, 
candid,  serious  eyes — wistful  when  in  repose,  boyishly 
frank  and  direct  as  she  stood  behind  her  desk  attend 
ing  to  business,  or  smiling  as  she  sped  her  parting 
guests  at  the  door. 

"I  know  Bertie  ought  to  be  in  school,"  Mrs.  Oilman 
said  one  day  to  a  sympathetic  guest.  "But  what  can 
I  do  ?  We  got  to  live.  I  didn't  come  out  here  for  my 
health,  but  goodness  knows  I  never  expected  to  slave 
away  in  a  hot  kitchen  in  this  way.  If  Mr.  Oilman 
had  lived — " 


MONEY    MAGIC 

It  was  her  habit  to  leave  her  demonstrations — even 
her  sentences — unfinished,  a  peculiarity  arising  partly 
from  her  need  of  hastening  to  prevent  some  pot  from 
boiling  over  and  partly  from  her  failing  powers.  She 
had  been  handsome  once — but  the  heat  of  the  stove, 
the  steam  of  the  washtub,  and  the  vexation  and  pro 
longed  effort  of  her  daily  life  had  warped  and  faded 
and  battered  her  into  a  pathetic  wreck  of  womanhood. 

"I'm  going  to  quit  this  thing  as  soon  as  I  get  my 
son's  ranch  paid  for.  You  see — " 

She  did  not  finish  this,  but  her  friend  understood. 
Bertha's  time  for  schooling  was  past.  She  had  already 
entered  upon  the  maiden's  land  of  dreams — of  romance. 
The  men  who  had  hitherto  courted  her,  half-laughingly, 
half -guiltily,  knowing  that  she  was  a  child,  had  at  last 
dropped  all  subterfuge.  To  them  she  was  a  "girl," 
with  all  that  this  word  means  to  males  not  too  scrupu 
lous  of  the  rights  of  women. 

"I  oughtn't  to  quit  now  when  business  is  so  good," 
Mrs.  Oilman  returned  to  the  dining-room  to  add.  "I'm 
full  all  the  time  and  crowded  on  Saturday.  More  and 
more  of  the  boys  come  down  the  line  on  purpose  to 
stay  over  Sunday.  If  I  can  stick  it  out  a  little 
while—" 

The  reason  why  "the  boys  came  down  the  line  to 
stay  over  Sunday,"  was  put  into  words  one  day  by 
Winchell,  the  barber,  who  took  his  meals  at  the  Eagle. 

He  was  a  cleanly  shaven  young  man  of  twenty-four 
or  five,  with  a  carefully  tended  brown  mustache  which 
drooped  below  the  corners  of  his  mouth. 

He  began  by  saying  to  Bertha: 

"I  wish  I  could  get  out  of  my  business.  Judas,  but 
I  get  tired  of  it!  When  I  left  the  farm  I  never  s 'posed 
I'd  find  myself  nailed  down  to  the  floor  of  a  barber- 

3 


MONEY    MAGIC 

shop,  but  here  I  am  and  making  good  money.  How'd 
you  like  to  go  on  a  ranch  ?';  he  asked,  meaningly. 

"I  don't  believe  I'd  like  it.  Too  lonesome/'  she  re 
plied,  without  any  attempt  to  coquette  with  the  hid 
den  meaning  of  his  question.  "I  kind  o'  like  this  hotel 
business.  I  enjoy  having  new  people  sifting  along 
every  day.  Seems  like  I  couldn't  bear  to  step  out  into 
private  life  again,  I've  got  so  used  to  this  public  thing. 
I  only  wish  mother  didn't  have  to  work  so  hard — that's 
all  that  troubles  me  at  the  present  time." 

Her  speech  was  quite  unlike  the  birdlike  chatter 
with  which  girls  of  her  age  entertain  a  lover.  She 
spoke  rather  slowly  and  with  the  gravity  of  a  man  of 
business,  and  her  blunt  phrases  made  her  smile  the 
more  bewitching  and  her  big,  brown  eyes  the  more 
girlish.  She  did  not  giggle  or  flush — she  only  looked 
past  his  smirking  face  out  into  the  street  where  the 
sun's  rays  lay  like  flame.  And  yet  she  was  profoundly 
moved  by  the  man,  for  he  was  a  handsome  fellow  in  a 
sleek  way. 

"Just  the  same,  you  oughtn't  to  be  clerk,"  said  the 
barber.  "It's  no  place  for  a  girl,  anyway.  House 
keeping  is  all  right,  but  this  clerking  is  too  public." 

"Oh,  I  don't  know!  We  have  a  mighty  nice  run  of 
custom,  and  I  don't  see  anything  bad  about  it.  I've 
met  a  lot  of  good  fellows  by  being  here." 

The  barber  wTas  silent  for  a  moment,  then  pulled  out 
his  watch.  "Well,  I've  got  to  get  back."  He  dropped 
his  voice.  "Don't  let  'em  get  gay  with  you.  Remem 
ber,  I've  got  a  mortgage  on  you.  If  any  of  'em  gets 
fresh  you  let  me  know — they  won't  repeat  it." 

"Don't  you  worry,"  she  replied,  with  a  confident 
smile.  "I  can  take  care  of  myself.  I  grew  up  in 
Colorado.  I'm  no  tenderfoot." 


MONEY    MAGIC 

This  boast,  so  childish,  so  full  of  pathetic  self-asser 
tion,  was  still  on  her  lips  when  a  couple  of  men  came 
out  of  the  dining-room  and  paused  to  buy  some  cigars 
at  the  counter.  One  of  them  was  at  first  sight  a  very 
handsome  man  of  pronounced  Western  sort.  He  wore 
a  long,  gray  frock-coat  without  vest,  and  a  dark-blue, 
stiffly  starched  shirt,  over  which  a  red  necktie  fluttered. 
His  carriage  was  erect,  his  hands  large  of  motion,  and 
his  profile  very  fine  in  its  bold  lines.  His  eyes  were 
gray  and  in  expression  cold  and  penetrating,  his  nose 
was  broad,  and  the  corners  of  his  mouth  bitter.  He 
could  not  be  called  young,  and  yet  he  was  not  even 
middle-aged.  His  voice  was  deep,  and  harsh  in  ac 
cent,  but  as  he  spoke  to  the  girl  a  certain  sweetness 
came  into  it. 

"Well,  Babe,  here  I  am  again.  Couldn't  get  along 
without  coming  down  to  spend  Sunday — seems  like 
Williams  must  go  to  church  on  Sunday  or  lose  his 
chance  o'  grace." 

His  companion,  a  short  man  with  a  black  mustache 
that  almost  made  a  circle  about  his  mouth,  grinned  in 
silence. 

Bertha  replied,  "I  think  I'll  take  a  forenoon  off  to 
morrow,  Captain  Haney,  and  see  that  you  both  go  to 
mass  for  once  in  your  life." 

The  big  man  looked  at  her  with  sudden  intensity. 
"If  you'll  take  me — I'll  go."  There  was  something 
in  his  voice  and  eyes  that  startled  the  girl.  She  drew 
back  a  little,  but  smiled  bravely,  carrying  out  the  jest. 

"I'll  call  you  on  that.  Unless  you  take  water,  you 
go  to  church  to-morrow." 

The  big  man  shoved  his  companion  away  and,  lean 
ing  across  the  counter,  said,  in  a  low  and  deeply  signifi 
cant  tone: 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"There  ain't  a  thing  in  this  world  that  you  can't  do 
with  Mart  Haney — not  a  thing.  That's  what  I  came 
down  here  to  tell  you — you  can  boss  my  ranch  any  day." 

The  girl  was  visibly  alarmed,  but  as  she  still  stood 
fascinated  by  his  eyes  and  voice,  struggling  to  recover 
her  serenity,  another  group  of  diners  came  noisily  past, 
and  the  big  man,  with  a  parting  look,  went  out  and 
took  a  seat  on  one  of  the  chairs  which  stood  in  a  row 
upon  the  walk.  The  hand  which  held  the  cigar  visibly 
trembled,  and  his  companion  said: 

"Be  careful,  Mart—" 

Haney  silenced  him  with  a  look.  "You're  on  the 
outside  here,  partner." 

"I  didn't  mean  to  butt  in — " 

"I  understand,  but  this  is  a  matter  between  that 
little  girl  and  me,"  replied  the  big  man  in  a  tone  that, 
while  friendly,  ended  all  further  remark  on  the  part  of 
his  companion,  who  rose,  after  a  little  pause,  and  walk 
ed  away. 

Haney  remained  seated,  buried  in  thought,  amazed 
at  the  fever  which  his  encounter  with  the  girl  had  put 
into  his  blood. 

It  was  true  that  he  had  been  coming  down  every 
Saturday  for  weeks — leaving  his  big  saloon  on  the  best 
evening  in  the  week  for  a  chance  to  see  this  child — this 
boyish  school-girl.  In  a  savage,  selfish,  and  unrestrained 
way  he  loved  her,  and  had  determined  to  possess  her 
— to  buy  her  if  necessary.  He  knew  something  of  the 
toil  through  which  the  weary  mother  plodded,  and  he 
watched  her  bend  and  fade  with  a  certainty  that  she 
would  one  day  be  on  his  side. 

When  at  home  and  afar  from  her,  he  felt  capable  of 
seizing  the  girl — of  carrying  her  back  with  him  as  the 
old-time  savage  won  his  bride ;  but  when  he  looked  into 

6 


MONEY    MAGIC 

her  clear,  calm  eyes  his  villany,  his  resolution  fell 
away  from  him.  He  found  himself  not  merely  a  man 
of  the  nearer  time,  but  a  Catholic — in  training  at  least 
— and  the  words  he  had  planned  to  utter  fell  dead  on 
his  lips.  Libertine  though  he  was,  there  were  lines 
over  which  even  his  lawlessness  could  not  break. 

He  was  a  desperate  character — a  man  of  violence — 
and  none  too  delicate  in  his  life  among  women;  but 
away  back  in  his  boyhood  his  good  Irish  mother  had 
taught  him  to  fight  fair  and  to  protect  the  younger  and 
weaker  children,  and  this  training  led  to  the  most  cu 
rious  and  unexpected  acts  in  his  business  as  a  gambler. 

"I  will  not  have  boys  at  my  lay-out,"  he  once  angrily 
said  to  Williams,  his  partner,  "and  I  will  not  have 
women  there.  I've  sins  enough  to  answer  for  without 
these.  Cut  'em  out!"  He  was  oddly  generous  now 
and  then,  and  often  returned  to  a  greenhorn  money 
enough  to  get  home  on.  "Stay  on  the  farm,  me  lad — 
'tis  better  to  milk  a  cow  with  a  mosquito  on  the  back 
of  your  neck  than  to  fill  a  cell  at  Canon  City." 

In  other  ways  he  was  inexorable,  taking  the  hazards 
of  the  game  with  his  visitors  and  raking  in  their  money 
with  cold  eyes  and  a  steady  hand.  He  collected  all 
notes  remorselessly — and  it  was  in  this  way  that  he 
had  acquired  his  interests  in  "The  Bottom  Dollar" 
and  "The  Flora"  mines — "prospects"  at  the  time,  but 
immensely  valuable  at  the  present.  It  was,  indeed,  this 
new  and  measurably  respectable  wealth  which  had  de 
termined  him  upon  pressing  his  suit  with  Bertha.  As 
he  sat  there  he  came  to  a  most  momentous  conclusion. 
"Why  not  marry  the  girl  and  live  honest?"  he  asked 
himself ;  and  being  moved  by  the  memory  of  her  sweet 
ness  and  humor,  he  said,  "I  will,"  and  the  resolution 
filled  his  heart  with  a  strange  delight. 


MONEY    MAGIC 

He  presented  the  matter  first  to  the  mother,  not  with 
any  intention  of  doing  the  right  thing,  but  merely  be 
cause  she  happened  into  the  room  before  the  girl  re 
turned,  and  because  he  was  overflowing  with  his  new 
found  grace. 

Mrs.  Oilman  came  in  wiping  her  face  on  her  apron — • 
as  his  mother  used  to  do — and  this  touched  him  almost 
like  a  caress.  He  rose  and  offered  her  a  chair,  which 
she  accepted,  highly  flattered. 

"It  must  seem  warm  to  you  down  here,  Captain?" 
she  remarked,  as  she  took  a  seat  beside  him. 

"It  does.  I  wouldn't  need  to  suffer  it  if  you  were 
doing  business  in  Cripple.  I  can't  leave  go  your 
Johnny-cake  and  pie;  'tis  the  kind  that  mother  didn't 
make — for  she  was  Irish." 

"I've  thought  of  going  up  there,"  she  replied,  matter- 
of-factly,  "but  I  can't  stand  the  altitude,  I'm  afraid — 
and  then  down  here  we  have  my  son's  little  ranch  to 
furnish  us  eggs  and  vegetables." 

"That's  an  advantage,"  he  admitted;  "but  on  the 
peak  no  one  expects  vegetables — it's  still  a  matter  of 
ham  and  eggs." 

"Is  that  so?"  she  asked,  concernedly. 

"Tis  indeed.  I  live  at  the  Palace  Hotel,  and  I 
know.  However,  'tis  not  of  that  I  intended  to  speak, 
Mrs.  Oilman.  I'm  distressed  to  see  you  working  so 
hard  this  warm  weather.  You  need  a  rest — a  vacation, 
I'm  thinkin'." 

"You're  mighty  neighborly,  Captain,  to  say  so,  but 
I  don't  see  any  way  of  taking  it." 

"Furthermore,  your  daughter  is  too  fine  to  be  clerk- 
in'  here  day  by  day.  She  should  be  in  a  home  of  her 
own." 

"She  ought  to  be  in  school,"  sighed  the  mother,  "but 

8 


MONEY    MAGIC 

I  don't  see  my  way  to  hiring  anybody  to  fill  her  place — 
it  would  take  a  man  to  do  her  work." 

"It  would  so.  She's  a  rare  little  business  woman. 
Let  me  see,  how  old  is  she?" 

" Eighteen  next  November." 

"She  seems  like  a  woman  of  twenty." 

"I  couldn't  run  for  a  week  without  her,"  answered 
the  mother,  rolling  down  her  sleeves  in  acknowledg 
ment  that  they  had  entered  upon  a  real  conversation. 

"She's  a  little  queen,"  declared  Haney. 

It  was  very  hot  and  the  flies  were  buzzing  about,  but 
the  big  gambler  had  no  mind  to  these  discomforts,  so 
intent  was  he  upon  bringing  his  proposal  before  the 
mother.  Straightened  in  his  chair  and  fixing  a  keen 
glance  upon  her  face,  he  began  his  attack.  '  'Tis  folly 
to  allow  annything  to  trouble  you,  my  dear  woman — if 
anny  debt  presses,  let  me  know,  and  I'll  lift  it  for  ye." 

The  weary  mother  felt  the  sincerity  of  his  offer,  and 
replied,  with  much  feeling:  "You're  mighty  good,  Cap 
tain  Haney,  but  we're  more  than  holding  our  own,  and 
another  year  will  see  the  ranch  clear.  I'm  just  as 
much  obliged  to  you,  though;  you're  a  true  friend." 

"But  I  don't  like  to  think  of  you  here  for  another 
year — and  Bertie  should  not  stand  here  another  day 
with  every  Tom,  Dick,  and  Harry  passin'  their  blarney 
with  her.  She's  fitter  to  be  mistress  of  a  big  house  of 
her  own,  an'  'tis  that  I've  the  mind  to  give  her;  and  I 
can,  for  I'm  no  longer  on  the  ragged  edge.  I  own  two 
of  the  best  mines  on  the  hill,  and  I  want  her  to  share 
me  good-fortune  with  me." 

Mrs.  Oilman,  worn  out  as  she  was,  was  still  quick 
where  her  daughter's  welfare  was  concerned,  and  she 
looked  at  the  big  man  with  wonder  and  inquiry,  and 
a  certain  accusation  in  her  glance. 

9 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"What  do  you  mean,  Captain?" 

The  big  gambler  was  at  last  face  to  face  with  his 
decision,  and  with  but  a  moment's  hesitation  replied, 
"As  my  wife,  I  mean,  of  course." 

She  sank  back  in  her  chair  and  looked  at  him  with 
eyes  of  consternation.  "Why,  Captain  Haney!  Do 
you  really  mean  that?" 

"I  do!"  He  had  a  feeling  at  the  moment  that  he 
had  always  been  honorable  in  his  intentions. 

"But — but — you're  so  old — I  mean  so  much  older — " 

"I  know  I  am,  and  I'm  rough.  I  don't  deny  that. 
I'm  forty,  but  then  I'm  what  they  call  well  preserved," 
he  smiled,  winningly,  "and  I'll  soon  have  an  income 
of  wan  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year." 

This  turned  the  current  of  her  emotion — she  gasped. 
"One  hundred  thousand  dollars!" 

He  held  up  a  warning  hand.  "Sh!  now  that's  be 
tween  us.  There  are  those  younger  than  I,  'tis  true, 
but  there  is  a  kind  of  saving  grace  in  money.  I  can 
take  you  all  out  of  this  daily  tile  like  winkin' — all  you 
need  to  do  is  to  say  the  wan  word  and  we'll  have  a 
house  in  Colorado  Springs  or  Denver — or  even  in  New 
York.  For  what  did  you  think  I  left  me  business  on 
the  busiest  day  of  every  week?  It  was  to  see  your 
sweet  daughter,  and  I  came  this  time  to  ask  her  to  go 
back  with  me." 

"What  did  she  say?" 

"  She  has  not  said.  We  had  no  time  to  talk.  What 
I  propose  now  is  that  we  take  a  drive  out  to  the  ranch 
and  talk  it  over.  Williams  will  fill  her  place  here.  In 
fact,  the  house  is  mine.  I  bought  it  this  morning." 

The  poor  woman  sat  like  one  in  a  stupor,  compre 
hending  little  of  what  he  said.  The  room  seemed  to 
be  revolving.  The  earth  had  given  way  beneath  her 

10 


MONEY    MAGIC 

feet  and  the  heavens  were  opening.  Her  first  sensa 
tion  was  one  of  terror.  She  feared  a  man  of  such  pow 
er — a  man  who  could  in  a  single  moment,  by  a  wave  of 
his  hand,  upset  her  entire  world.  His  enormous  wealth 
dazzled  her  even  while  she  doubted  it.  How  could  it 
be  true  while  he  sat  there  talking  to  her — and  she  in 
her  apron  and  her  hair  in  disorder  ?  She  rose  hurriedly 
with  instinct  to  make  herself  presentable  enough  to 
carry  on  this  conversation.  As  she  stood  weakly,  she 
apologized  incoherently. 

"Captain,  I  appreciate  your  kindness — you've  al 
ways  been  a  good  customer — one  I  liked  to  do  for — 
but  I'm  all  upset — I  can't  get  my  wits — " 

"No  hurry,  madam,"  he  said,  with  a  generous  intent. 
"To-morrow  is  coming.  Don't  hurry  at  all — at  all." 

She  hurried  out,  leaving  him  alone — with  the  clock, 
the  cat,  and  the  hostler,  who  was  spraying  the  sidewalk 
under  the  cotton-wood-trees.  Quivering  with  fear  of 
the  girl's  refusal,  the  gambler  rose  and  went  out  into 
the  sunsmit  streets  to  commune  with  this  new-found 
self. 

Life  was  no  longer  simple  for  Mrs.  Oilman.  It  was, 
indeed,  filled  with  a  wind  of  terror.  Haney's  promise 
of  relief  from  want  was  very  sweet,  yet  disturbingly 
empty,  like  the  joy  of  dreams,  and  yet  his  words  took 
her  breath — clouded  her  judgment,  befogged  her  in 
sight. 

She  went  back  to  the  dining-room,  where  her  daugh 
ter  sat  eating  dinner,  with  a  numbness  in  her  limbs 
and  a  sense  of  dizziness  in  her  brain,  and  dropping  into 
a  chair  at  the  table  gasped  out: 

"Do  you  know — what  Captain  Haney  just  said  to 
me?" 

"Not  being  a  mind-reader,  I  don't,"  replied  the  girl, 

ii 


MONEY    MAGIC 

calmly,  though  she  was  moved  by  her  mother's  white, 
awed  face. 

"He  wants  you!" 

Bertha  flushed  and  braced  both  hands  against  the 
table  as  she  replied,  "Well,  he  can't  have  me!" 

With  the  opposition  in  her  daughter's  tone,  Mrs. 
Oilman  was  suddenly  moved  to  argue. 

"Think  what  it  means,  Bertie!  He's  rich.  Did  you 
know  that?  He  owns  two  mines." 

"I  know  he  is  a  gambler  and  runs  two  saloons.  You 
see,  the  boys  keep  me  posted,  and  I'm  not  marrying  a 
gambler — not  this  summer,"  she  ended,  decisively. 

"But  he's  going  to  give  that  up,  he  says."  He 
hadn't  said  this,  but  she  was  sure  he  would.  "His 
income  is  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year.  Think 
of  that!" 

"I  don't  want  to  think  of  it,"  the  girl  answered, 
frowning  slightly.  "It  makes  my  head  ache.  Nobody 
has  a  right  to  so  much  money.  How  did  he  get  it?" 

"Out  of  his  mine — and  oh,  Bertie,  he  says  if  you'll 
speak  the  word  we  needn't  do  another  day's  work  in 
this  hot,  greasy  old  place!  The  house  is  his,  anyway. 
Did  you  know  that?" 

Bertha  eyed  her  mother  closely — with  cool,  bright, 
accusing  eyes — for  a  moment,  then  she  softened.  "Poor 
old  mammy,  it's  pretty  tough  lines  on  you — no  two 
ways  about  that.  You've  got  the  heavy  end  of  the 
job.  I'd  marry  most  anybody  to  give  you  a  rest — 
but,  mother,  Captain  Haney  is  forty,  if  he's  a  day, 
and  he's  a  hard  citizen.  He  has  been  a  gambler  all 
his  life.  You  can't  expect  me  to  marry  a  sport  like  him. 
And  then  there's  Ed." 

The  mother's  face  changed.  "A  barber!"  she  ex 
claimed,  scornfully. 

12 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"Yes,  he's  a  barber  now,  but  he's  going  to  make  a 
break  soon  and  get  into  something  else." 

"Don't  bank  on  Ed,  Bertie;  he'll  never  be  anything 
more  than  he  is  now.  No  man  ever  got  anywhere  who 
started  in  as  a  barber." 

"Would  you  rather  I  married  a  gambler  and  a  sure- 
shot?  They  tell  me  Haney  has  killed  his  man." 

"That  may  be  all  talk.  Well,  anyhow,  he  wants  to 
see  you  and  talk  it  over;  and  oh,  Bertie,  it  does  seem 
a  wonderful  chance — and  my  heart's  so  bad  to-day  it 
seems  as  though  I  couldn't  see  to  another  meal!  I 
don't  want  you  to  marry  him  if  you  don't  want  to — 
I'm  not  asking  you  to.  You  know  I'm  not.  But  he  is 
a  noble-looking  man — and  I  get  awfully  discouraged 
sometimes.  It  scares  me  to  think  of  dying  and  leav 
ing  you  without  any  security." 

One  of  the  waiters,  half-dead  with  curiosity,  was 
edging  near,  under  pretense  of  brushing  the  table,  and 
so  the  mistress  rose  and  took  up  the  burdens  of  her 
stewardship. 

"But  we'll  talk  it  over  to-night.    Don't  be  hasty." 

"I  won't,"  replied  the  girl. 

She  was  by  no  means  as  unmoved  as  she  gave  out. 
She  had  always  admired  and  liked  Captain  Haney, 
though  he  never  moved  her  in  the  same  way  that  the 
young  barber  did  (for  Ed  Winchell  had  youth  as  well 
as  comeliness,  and  there  is  a  divine  suppleness  in  youth) , 
yet  he  had  been  a  welcome  guest.  A  hundred  thousand 
dollars  a  year!  And  yet  he's  been  coming  to  our  lit 
tle  hotel  for  a  year — to  see  me!" 

This  consideration  was  the  one  that  moved  her  most. 
All  the  bland  words,  the  jocular  phrases  of  his  singular 
wooing  came  back  to  her  now,  weighted  with  deep  sig 
nificance.  She  had  called  it  "joshing,"  and  had  put 


MONEY    MAGIC 

it  all  aside,  just  as  she  had  parried  the  rude  jests  of 
the  brakemen  of  her  acquaintance.  Now  she  saw  that 
he  had  been  in  earnest. 

She  was  wise  beyond  her  years,  this  calm-faced, 
keen-eyed  girl,  trained  by  adversity  to  take  care  of 
herself.  She  knew  instinctively  that  she  lived  sur 
rounded  by  wolves,  and,  much  as  she  admired  the  big 
frame  and  bold  profile  of  Captain  Haney,  she  had 
placed  him  among  her  enemies.  His  coming  always 
pleased  her  but  at  the  same  time  put  her  upon  the 
defensive. 

Strange  to  say,  she  enjoyed  her  position  there  in  her 
battered  little  hotel.  "  If  it  weren't  for  poor  old  moth 
er — •' '  She  arrested  herself  and  went  back  to  the  counter 
with  a  certain  timidity,  a  self -consciousness  new  to 
her,  fearing  to  face  the  gambler  now  that  she  knew 
his  intent  was  honorable. 

The  room  was  empty,  all  the  men  having  gone  out 
upon  the  walk  to  escape  the  heat,  and  she  took  her 
seat  behind  her  desk  and  gave  herself  up  to  a  con 
sideration  of  the  life  to  which  the  possession  of  so  much 
wealth  would  introduce  her.  She  could  have  un 
limited  new  gowns,  she  could  travel,  and  she  could 
rescue  her  mother  from  drudgery  and  worry.  These 
things  she  could  discern — but  of  the  larger  life  which 
money  could  open  to  her  she  could  only  vaguely  dream. 

The  first  effect  of  marrying  Marshall  Haney  would  be 
to  cut  short  her  life  in  Sibley;  the  second,  the  establish 
ment  of  a  home  in  the  great  camps  about  them. 

As  she  looked  around  the  dingy  room  buzzing  with 
flies,  she  experienced  a  premonitory  pang  of  the  pain 
she  would  suffer  in  going  out  of  its  doors  forever. 

When  Haney  came  back  an  hour  later,  he  read  in  the 
cold,  serious  look  she  gave  him  a  warning,  therefore 

M 


MONEY    MAGIC 

he  spoke  but  a  few  words  on  commonplace  subjects, 
and  returned  to  his  seat  on  the  walk  to  await  a  change 
in  her  mood. 

This  meekness  on  the  part  of  a  powerful  man  moved 
the  girl,  and  a  little  later  she  went  to  the  doorway  and 
said  to  the  crowd  generally,  "It's  a  wonder  some  fellow 
wouldn't  open  a  cantaloupe  or  something." 

Haney  put  his  finger  to  his  mouth  and  whistled  to 
the  grocer  opposite.  He  came  on  the  run,  alert  for 
trade. 

"Roll  up  a  couple  of  big  melons,"  called  Haney, 
largely.  "We're  all  drying  to  cinders  over  here." 

The  loafers  cheered,  but  the  girl  said,  in  a  lower  voice, 
"I  was  only  joking." 

"What  you  say  goes,"  he  replied,  with  significance. 

She  did  not  stay  to  see  the  melons  cut,  but  went 
back  to  her  desk,  and  he  brought  a  choice  slice  in  to 
her. 

She  took  it,  but  she  said,  "You  mustn't  think  you 
own  me — not  yet."  Her  tone  was  resentful.  "I  don't 
want  you  to  say  things  like  that — before  people." 

"Like  what?"  he  asked. 

She  did  not  answer. 

He  went  on:  "I  don't  mean  to  assume  anything, 
God  knows.  I'm  only  waitin'  and  hopin'.  I'll  go  away 
if  you  want  me  to  and  let  you  think  it  over  alone." 

"I  wish  you  would,"  she  said,  realizing  that  this  com 
mitted  her  to  at  least  a  consideration  of  his  proposal. 

He  held  out  his  hand.  "Good-bye — till  next  Satur 
day." 

She  put  her  small,  brown  hand  in  his.  He  crushed 
it  hard  and  his  bold  face  softened.  "I  need  you,  my 
girl.  Sure  I  do!"  And  in  his  eyes  was  something 
very  winning. 

15 


CHAPTER  II 

MARSHALL  HANEY  CHANGES  HEART 

IT  was  well  for  Haney  that  Bertie  did  not  see  him  as 
he  sat  above  his  gambling  boards,  watchful,  keen- 
eyed,  grim  of  visage,  for  she  would  have  trembled  in 
fear  of  him.  "Haney's"  was  both  saloon  and  gam 
bling  hall.  In  the  front,  on  the  right,  ran  the  long 
bar  with  its  shining  brass  and  polished  mahogany  (he 
prided  himself  on  having  the  best  bar  west  of  Denver) , 
and  in  the  rear,  occupying  both  sides  of  the  room, 
stood  two  long  rows  of  faro  and  roulette  outfits,  to 
gether  with  card-tables  and  dice-boards.  It  was  the 
largest  and  most  prosperous  gambling  hall  in  the 
camps,  and  always  of  an  evening  was  crowded  with 
gamesters  and  those  who  came  as  lookers-on. 

On  the  right  side,  in  a  raised  seat  about  midway  of 
the  hall,  Haney  usually  sat,  a  handsome  figure,  in 
broad  white  hat,  immaculate  linen,  and  well-cut  frock- 
coat,  his  face  as  pale  as  that  of  a  priest  in  the  glare 
of  the  big  electric  light.  On  the  other  side,  and  di 
rectly  opposite,  Williams  kept  corresponding  "look 
out"  over  the  dealers  and  the  crowd.  He  was  a  bold 
man  who  attempted  any  shenanigan  with  Mart  Haney, 
and  the  games  of  his  halls  were  reported  honest. 

To  think  of  a  young  and  innocent  girl  married  to 
this  remorseless  gambler,  scarred  with  the  gun  and 
the  knife,  was  a  profanation  of  maidenhood — and  yet, 

16 


MONEY    MAGIC 

as  he  fell  now  and  then  into  a  dream,  he  took  on  a  kind 
of  savage  beauty  which  might  allure  and  destroy  a 
woman.  Whatever  else  he  was,  he  was  neither  com 
monplace  nor  mean.  The  visitors  to  whom  he  was 
pointed  out  as  "a  type  of  our  modern  Western  des 
perado"  invariably  acknowledged  that  he  looked  the 
part.  His  smile  was  of  singular  sweetness — all  the 
more  alluring  because  of  its  rarity— and  the  warm  clasp 
of  his  big,  soft  hand  had  made  him  sheriff  in  San  Juan 
County,  and  his  bravery  and  his  love  of  fair  play  were 
well  known  and  admired  among  the  miners. 

The  sombre  look  in  his  face,  which  resembled  that  of 
a  dreaming  leopard,  was  due  to  the  new  and  secret 
plans  with  which  his  mind  was  now  engaged.  "If  she 
takes  me,  I  quit  this  business,"  he  had  promised  him 
self.  "She  despises  me  in  it,  and  so  does  the  mother, 
and  so  I  reckon  'tis  up  to  me  to  clean  house." 

Then  he  thought  of  his  own  mother,  who  had  the 
same  prejudice,  and  who  would  not  have  taken  a  cent 
of  his  earnings.  "I  see  no  harm  in  the  business,"  he 
said.  "Men  will  drink  and  they  will  gamble,  and  I 
might  as  well  serve  their  wish  as  anny  other — better, 
indeed,  for  no  man  can  accuse  me  of  dark  ways  nor 
complain  of  the  order  of  me  house.  I  am  a  business 
man  the  same  as  him  that  runs  a  grocery  store;  but 
'tis  no  matter,  she  dislikes  it,  and  that  ends  it.  She's 
a  clear-headed  wan,"  he  thought,  with  a  glow  of  ad 
miration  for  her.  "She's  the  captain." 

He  no  longer  thought  of  her  as  his  victim — as  some 
thing  to  be  ruthlessly  enjoyed  —  he  trembled  before 
her,  big  and  brave  and  relentless  as  he  was  in  the 
world  of  men.  "What  has  come  over  me?"  he  asked 
himself.  "Sure  she  has  me  on  me  knees — the  witch. 
Me  mind  is  filled  with  her." 


MONEY    MAGIC 

All  through  the  week  his  agents  were  at  work  at 
tempting  to  sell  his  saloons.  "I'm  ready  to  close  out 
at  a  moment's  notice,"  he  declared. 

At  times,  as  he  sat  in  his  place,  he  lost  consciousness 
of  the  crowding,  rough-hatted,  intent  men  and  the 
monotonous  calls  of  the  dealers.  The  click  of  balls, 
the  buzz  of  low-toned  comment  died  out  of  his  ears — 
he  was  back  in  Troy,  looking  for  his  father,  whom  he 
had  not  seen  or  written  to  in  twenty  years.  He  saw 
himself,  with  a  dainty  little  woman  on  his  arm,  taking 
the  boat  to  New  York.  "I  will  go  to  the  biggest  hotel 
in  the  city;  the  girl  shall  have  the  best  the  old  town 
has.  Nothing  will  be  too  good  for  her — " 

He  roused  himself  to  a  touch  on  his  elbow.  One  of 
his  agents  had  a  new  offer  for  the  two  saloons.  It  was 
still  less  than  he  considered  the  business  worth,  but 
in  his  softened  mood  he  said,  "It  goes!" 

"Make  out  your  papers,"  replied  the  other  man, 
with  almost  equal  brevity. 

During  the  rest  of  the  evening  the  gambler  sat  above 
his  lay-out  with  mingled  feelings  of  relief  and  regret. 
After  all,  he  was  in  command  here.  He  knew  this 
business,  and  he  loved  the  companionship  and  the  ad 
miration  of  the  men  who  dropped  round  by  his  side 
to  discuss  the  camp  or  the  weather,  or  to  invite  him 
to  join  a  hunting  trip.  He  felt  himself  to  be  one  of 
the  chief  men  of  the  town,  and  that  he  could  at  any 
time  become  their  Representative  if  he  chose.  For 
some  years  (he  couldn't  have  told  why)  he  had  taken 
on  a  thrift  unknown  to  him  before,  and  had  been  at 
tending  strictly  to  business.  He  now  saw  that  it  must 
have  been  from  a  foreknowledge  of  Bertha.  In  him 
the  superstitions  of  both  miner  and  gambler  mingled. 
The  cards  had  run  against  him  for  three  years,  now 

18 


MONEY    MAGIC 

they  were  falling  in  his  favor.  ' '  I  will  take  advantage 
of  them,"  he  declared. 

Slowly  the  crowd  thinned  out,  and  at  one  o'clock 
only  a  few  inveterate  poker-players  and  one  or  two 
young  fellows  who  were  still  "bucking"  the  roulette 
wheel  remained  and,  calling  one  of  his  men  to  take 
charge,  Haney  nodded  to  Williams  and  they  went  out 
on  the  street. 

As  he  reached  the  cold,  crisp,  deliciously  rarefied  air 
outside,  he  took  off  his  hat  and  involuntarily  looked 
up  at  the  stars  blazing  thick  in  the  deep-blue  midnight 
sky.  With  solemn  voice  he  said  to  his  partner:  "Well, 
'Spot,'  right  here  Mart  Haney's  saloon  business  ends. 
We're  all  in." 

Williams  felt  that  his  partner  was  acting  rashly. 
"Oh,  I  wouldn't  say  that!  You  may  get  into  it 
again." 

"No — the  little  girl  and  her  mother  won't  stand  for 
it,  and,  besides,  what's  the  use  ?  I  don't  need  to  do  it, 
and  if  I'm  ever  going  to  see  the  world  now  is  my 
chance.  I'm  goin'  back  East  to  discover  how  manny 
brothers  and  sisters  I  have  livin'.  The  old  father  is 
dodderin  'round  somewheres  back  there.  I'll  surprise 
him,  too.  Now,  have  those  papers  all  made  out  ready 
to  sign  by  eleven  o'clock  to-morrow.  I'm  goin'  down 
the  valley  on  the  noon  train." 

"All  right,  Mart,  but  you're  makin'  a  mistake." 

"Never  you  mind,  me  bucko.  Tis  me  own  game, 
and  the  mines  will  take  all  the  gray  matter  you  can 
spare." 

As  the  big  man  was  walking  away  towards  his  hotel 
a  woman  met  him.  "Hello,  Mart!" 

"Hello,  Mag;  what's  doing?" 

She  was  humped  and  bedraggled,  and  her  face  looked 
19 


MONEY    MAGIC 

white  in  the  moonlight.  "Nothing.  Stake  a  fellow  to 
a  hot  soup,  won't  you?" 

"Sure  thing,  Mag."  He  handed  her  a  five-dollar 
gold  piece.  "  Is  it  as  bad  as  that  ?  What's  t'  old  man 
doin'  these  days?" 

"Servin'  time,"  she  answered,  bitterly. 

"Oh,  so  he  is!"  replied  Haney,  hastily.  "I'd  forgot 
ten.  Well,  take  care  o'  yourself,"  he  added,  genially, 
walking  on  in  instant  forgetfulness  of  the  woman's 
misery,  for  his  mind  was  turned  upon  the  talk  which 
his  younger  brother  Charley  had  given  him  not  long 
before  in  Denver. 

It  was  not  a  cheerful  conversation,  for  Charley  flip 
pantly  confessed  that  he  didn't  hold  any  family  re 
unions,  and  that  all  he  knew  of  his  brothers  he  gained 
by  chance.  "They're  all  great  boozers,"  he  said,  in 
summing  them  up.  "Tim  is  a  ward  heeler  in  Buffalo 
— came  to  see  me  at  the  stage-door  loaded  to  the  gun 
nels.  Tom  is  a  greasy,  three-fingered  brakeman  on  the 
Central.  Fannie  married  a  carpenter  and  has  about 
seventeen  young  ones.  Mary  died,  you  know?" 

"No,  I  didn't  know." 

"Yes,  died  about  four  years  ago.  She  was  like 
mother — a  nice  girl,  Dad  sent  me  a  paper  with  a 
notice  of  her  death.  He  never  writes,  but  now  and 
then,  when  Tim  has  a  fight  or  Tom  gets  drunk  and  slips 
into  the  criminal  column,  I  hear  of  them." 

Charles  did  not  say  so,  but  Mart  knew  that  he  was 
lumped  among  the  other  poverty-stricken,  worthless 
members  of  the  family.  He  did  not  at  the  time  un 
deceive  his  brother,  but  now  that  he  was  no  longer  a 
gambler  and  saloon-keeper,  now  that  he  was  rich,  he 
resolved  not  only  to  let  his  father  know  of  his  good- 
fortune  and  his  change  of  life,  but  also  (and  this  was 

20 


MONEY    MAGIC 

due  to  Bertie's  influence)  he  earnestly  desired  to  help 
his  family  out  of  their  mire. 

''We  had  good  stuff  in  us,"  he  said,  "but  we  went 
wrong  after  the  mother  left  us." 

As  he  walked  on  down  the  street  a  strange  radiance 
came  into  the  world.  The  distant  peaks  of  the  Sangre 
de  Cristo  range  rose  in  dim  and  shadowy  majesty  to 
the  south,  and,  wondering,  astonished  at  the  emotion 
stirring  in  his  heart,  the  regenerated  desperado  turned 
to  see  the  moon  lifting  above  the  crown  of  the  great 
peak  to  the  east.  For  the  first  time  in  many  years  his 
heart  was  filled  with  a  sense  of  the  beauty  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER   III 

BERTHA    YIELDS    TO    TEMPTATION 

BERTIE  looked  older  and  graver  when  Haney  en 
tered  the  Eagle  Hotel,  and  his  heart  expanded 
with  a  tenderness  that  was  partly  paternal.  She  seemed 
so  young  and  looked  so  pale  and  troubled. 

She  greeted  him  unsmilingly  and  calmly  handed  him 
the  pen  with  which  to  register. 

"How  are  you  all?"  he  asked,  with  genuine  concern. 

"Pretty  bum.  Mother  gave  out  this  week.  It's  the 
heat,  I  guess.  Hottest  weather  we've  had  since  I  came 
to  town." 

"Why  didn't  you  let  me  know?" 

She  avoided  his  question.  "We're  too  low  here  at 
Junction.  Mother  ought  to  go  a  couple  of  thousand 
feet  higher.  She  needs  rest  and  a  change.  I've  sent 
her  out  to  the  ranch." 

"You're  not  running  the  house  alone?" 

"Why,  cert! — that  is,  except  my  brother's  wife  is 
taking  mother's  place  in  the  kitchen.  I'm  runnin'  the 
rest  of  it  just  as  I've  been  doin'  for  three  years." 

He  looked  his  admiration  before  he  uttered  it. 
"You're  a  wonder!" 

"Don't  you  think  it!  How  does  it  happen  you're 
down  to-day?  You  said  Saturday." 

"I've  sold  out — signed  the  deeds  to-day.  I'm  out 
of  the  liquor  trade  forever." 

22 


MONEY    MAGIC 

She  nodded  gravely.  "I'm  glad  of  that.  I  don't 
like  the  business — not  a  little  bit." 

He  took  this  as  an  encouragement.  "I  knew  you 
didn't.  Well,  I'm  neither  saloon-keeper  nor  gambler 
from  this  day.  I'm  a  miner  and  a  capitalist — and  all 
I  have  is  yours,"  he  added,  in  a  lover's  voice,  bending 
a  keen  glance  upon  her. 

The  girl  was  standing  very  straight  behind  her  desk, 
and  her  face  did  not  change,  but  her  eyes  shifted  be 
fore  his  gaze.  "You'd  better  go  in  to  supper  while 
the  biscuit  are  hot,"  she  advised,  coolly. 

He  had  tact  enough  to  take  his  dismissal  without 
another  word  or  glance,  and  after  he  had  gone  she 
still  stood  there  in  the  same  rigid  pose,  but  her  face 
was  softer  and  clouded  with  serious  meditation.  It 
was  wonderful  to  think  of  this  rich  and  powerful  man 
changing  his  whole  life  for  her. 

Winchell,  the  young  barber,  came  in  hurriedly,  his 
face  full  of  accusation  and  alarm.  "Was  that  Haney 
who  just  came  in?"  he  asked,  truculently. 

"Yes,  he's  at  supper — want  to  see  him?" 

"See  him?  No!  And  I  don't  want  you  to  see  him! 
He's  too  free  with  you,  Bert;  I  don't  like  it." 

She  smiled  a  little,  curious  smile.  "Don't  mix  it  up 
with  him,  Ed  —  I'd  hate  to  see  your  remains  after 
wards." 

"Bert,  see  here!  You've  been  funny  with  me  late 
ly."  (By  funny  he  meant  unaccountable.)  "And 
your  mother  has  been  hinting  things  at  me — and  now 
here  is  Haney  leaving  his  business  to  come  down  the 
middle  of  the  week.  What's  the  meaning  of  it?" 

"It  isn't  the  middle  of  the  week.  It's  Friday,"  she 
corrected  him. 

He  went  on:  "I  know  what  he  keeps  coming  to  see 
3  23 


MONEY    MAGIC 

you  for,  but  for  God's  sake  don't  you  think  of  marry 
ing  an  old  tout  and  gambler  like  him." 

"He  isn't  old,  and  he  isn't  a  gambler  any  more," 
she  significantly  retorted. 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

"He's  sold  out — clean  as  a  whistle." 

"Don't  you  believe  it!  It's  a  trick  to  get  you  to 
think  better  of  him.  Bert,  don't  you  dare  to  go  back 
on  me,"  he  cried  out,  warningly — "don't  you  dare!" 

The  girl  suddenly  ceased  smiling,  and  asserted  her 
self.  "See  here,  Ed,  you'd  better  not  try  to  boss  me. 
I  won't  stand  for  it.  What  license  have  you  got  to 
pop  in  here  every  few  minutes  and  tell  me  what's 
what?  You  'tend  to  your  business  and  you'll  get 
ahead  faster." 

He  stammered  with  rage  and  pain.  "If  you  throw 
me  down — fer  that — old  tout,  I'll  kill  you  both." 

The  girl  looked  at  him  in  silence  for  a  long  time,  and 
into  her  brain  came  a  new,  swift,  and  revealing  concept 
of  his  essential  littleness  and  weakness.  His  beauty 
lost  its  charm,  and  a  kind  of  disgust  rose  in  her  throat 
as  she  slowly  said,  with  cutting  scorn: 

"If  you  really  meant  that! — but  you  don't,  you're 
only  talking  to  hear  yourself  talk.  Now  you  shut  up 
and  run  away.  This  is  no  place  for  chewing  the  rag, 
anyway — this  is  my  busy  day." 

For  a  moment  the  man's  face  expressed  the  rage 
of  a  wild-cat  and  his  hands  clinched.  "Don't  you  do 
it — that's  all!"  he  finally  snarled.  "You'll  wish  you 
hadn't." 

"Run  away,  little  boy,"  she  said,  irritably.  "You 
make  me  tired.  I  don't  feel  like  being  badgered  by 
anybody,  and,  besides,  I'm  not  mortgaged  to  anybody 
just  yet." 

24 


MONEY    MAGIC 

His  mood  changed.  "Bertie,  I'm  sorry.  I  didn't 
mean  to  be  fresh.  But  don't  talk  to  me  that  way,  it 
uses  me  all  up." 

"Well,  then,  stop  puffing  and  blowing.  I've  troubles 
of  my  own,  with  mother  sick  and  a  new  cook  in  the 
kitchen." 

"Excuse  me,  Bert;  I'll  never  do  it  again." 

"That 'sail  right." 

"But  it  riled  me  like  the  devil  to  think — "  he  began 
again. 

"Don't  think,"  she  curtly  interrupted;  "cut  hair." 

Perceiving  that  she  was  in  evil  mood  for  his  plea, 
he  turned  away  so  sadly  that  the  girl  relented  a  little 
and  called  out: 

' '  Say,  Ed ! "  He  turned  and  came  back.  ' '  See  here ! 
I  didn't  intend  to  hurt  your  feelings,  but  this  is  one  of 
my  touchy  days,  and  you  got  on  the  wrong  side  of 
me.  I'm  sorry.  Here's  my  hand  —  now  shake,  and 
run." 

His  face  lightened,  and  he  smiled,  displaying  his 
fine,  white  teeth.  "You're  a  world-beater,  sure  thing, 
and  I'm  going  to  get  you  yet!" 

"Cut  it  out!"  she  slangily  retorted,  sharply,  with 
drawing  her  hand. 

"You'll  see!"  he  shouted,  laughing  back  at  her,  full 
of  hope  again. 

She  was  equally  curt  with  two  or  three  others  who 
brazenly  tried  to  buy  a  smile  with  their  cigars.  "Do 
business,  boys;  this  is  my  day  to  sell  goods,"  she  said, 
and  they  took  the  hint. 

When  Haney  came  out  from  his  supper,  he  stepped 
quietly  in  behind  the  counter  and  said:  "I'll  take  your 
place.  Get  your  grub.  Then  put  on  your  hat  and 
we'll  drive  out  to  see  how  the  mother  is." 

25 


MONEY    MAGIC 

The  girl  acknowledged  a  sense  of  relief  as  she  left 
him  in  charge  and  went  to  her  seat  in  the  far  corner  of 
the  dining-room — a  relief  and  a  dangerous  relaxation. 
It  was,  after  all,  a  pleasure  to  feel  that  a  strong,  sure 
hand  was  out-stretched  in  sympathy — and  she  was  tired. 
Even  as  she  sat  waiting  for  her  tea  the  collapse  came, 
and  bowing  her  head  to  her  hands  she  shook  with 
silent  sobs. 

The  waitresses  stared,  and  young  Mrs.  Oilman  came 
hurrying.  "What's  the  matter,  Bertie;  are  you  sick?" 

"Oh  no — but  I'm  worried — about  mother." 

"You  haven't  heard  anything — ?" 

"No,  but  she  looked  so  old  and  so  worn  when  she 
went  away.  She  ought  to  have  quit  here  a  month 
ago." 

"Well,  I  wouldn't  worry.  It's  cooler  out  to  the 
ranch,  and  the  air  is  so  pure  she'll  pick  up  right  away 
—you'll  see." 

"I  hope  so,  but  she  ought  to  take  it  easy  the  rest  of 
her  days.  She's  done  work  enough — and  I'm  kind  o' 
discouraged  myself." 

Slowly  she  recovered  her  self-possession.  She  drank 
her  tea  in  abstracted  silence,  and  at  last  she  said:  "I'm 
going  out  there,  Cassie;  you'll  have  to  look  after  things. 
I'll  get  some  of  the  boys  to  'tend  the  office." 

"You're  not  going  alone?" 

"No,  Mart  Haney  is  going  to  drive  me." 

"Oh!"  There  was  a  look  of  surprise  and  consterna 
tion  in  the  face  of  the  young  wife,  but  she  only  asked, 
"You'll  be  back  to-night?" 

"Yes,  if  mother  is  no  worse." 

Haney  had  the  smartest  "rig"  in  town  waiting  for 
her  as  she  came  out,  but  as  he  looked  at  her  white  dress 
and  pretty  hat  of  flowers  and  tulle  he  apologized  for 

26 


MONEY    MAGIC. 

its  shortcomings — "  Tis  lined  with  cream-colored  satin 
it  should  be." 

She  colored  a  little  at  this,  but  quickly  replied: 
"Blarney.  Anybody 'd  know  you  were  an  Irishman." 

"I  am,  and  proud  of  it." 

"I  want  to  take  the  doctor  out  to  see  mother." 

"Not  in  this  rig,"  he  protested. 

She  smiled.  "Why  not?  No,  but  I  want  to  go 
round  to  his  office  and  leave  a  call." 

"I'll  go  round  the  world  fer  you,"  he  replied. 

The  air  was  deliciously  cool  and  fragrant  now  that 
the  sun  was  sinking,  and  the  town  was  astir  with  peo 
ple.  It  was  the  social  hour  when  the  heat  and  toil  of 
the  day  were  over,  and  all  had  leisure  to  turn  wonder 
ing  eyes  upon  Haney  and  his  companion.  The  girl 
felt  her  position  keenly.  She  was  aware  that  a  single 
appearance  of  this  kind  was  equivalent  to  an  engage 
ment  in  the  minds  of  her  acquaintances,  but  as  she 
shyly  glanced  at  her  lover's  handsome  face,  and  watch 
ed  his  powerful  and  skilled  hands  upon  the  reins,  her 
pride  in  him  grew.  She  acknowledged  his  kindness, 
and  was  tired  and  ready  to  lean  upon  his  strength. 

"When  did  your  mother  quit?"  he  asked,  after  they 
had  left  the  town  behind. 

"Sunday  night.  You  see,  we  had  a  big  rush  all  day, 
and  on  top  of  that,  about  twelve  o'clock,  an  alarm  of 
fire  next  door.  So  she  got  no  sleep.  Monday  morning 
she  didn't  get  up,  Tuesday  she  dressed  but  was  too 
miserable  to  work,  so  finally  I  just  packed  her  off  to 
the  ranch." 

"That  was  right — only  you  should  have  sent  for 
me." 

She  was  silent,  and  her  heart  began  to  beat  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  demand  he  was  about  to  make.  She 

27 


MONEY    MAGIC 

felt  weak  and  unprotected  here — in  the  office  they  were 
on  more  equal  terms — but  she  enjoyed  in  a  subconscious 
way  the  swift  rush  of  the  horses,  the  splendor  of  the 
sunset,  and  the  quiet  authority  in  his  voice — even  as 
she  lifted  eyes  to  the  mesa  towards  which  they  were 
driving  he  began  to  speak. 

"You  know  my  mind,  little  girl.  I  don't  mean  to 
ask  you  till  to-morrow — that's  the  day  set — but  I  want 
to  say  that  I've  been  cleaning  house  all  the  week, 
thinkin'  of  you.  I'm  to  be  a  leading  citizen  from  this 
day  on.  You  won't  need  to  apologize  for  me.  I've 
never  been  a  drinking  man,  but  I  have  been  a  reckless 
devil.  I  don't  deny  that  I've  planted  a  wide  field  of 
wild  oats.  However,  all  that  I  put  away  from  this 
hour.  Tis  true  I'm  forty,  but  that's  not  old — I'm  no 
older  than  I  was  at  twenty-one,  sure — and,  besides, 
you're  young  enough  to  make  up."  He  smiled,  and 
again  she  acknowledged  the  charm  of  his  face  when  he 
smiled.  "You'll  see  me  grow  younger  whilst  you  grow 
older,  and  so  wan  day  we'll  be  of  an  age." 

Her  customary  readiness  of  reply  had  left  her,  and 
she  still  sat  in  silence,  a  sob  in  her  throat,  a  curious 
numbness  in  her  limbs. 

He  seemed  to  feel  that  she  did  not  wish  to  talk. 
"If  you  come  into  partnership  with  me  you  need  never 
worry  about  the  question  of  bread  or  rent  or  clothes, 
and  that's  worth  considerin' —  Which  road  now?" 

She  silently  pointed  to  the  left,  and  they  drew  near 
the  foot  of  the  great  mesa  whose  level  top  was  cutting 
the  sun  in  half. 

The  miner  was  filled  with  grateful  homage.  "Tis 
a  great  world!"  he  exclaimed,  softly.  "Sure,  'tis  only 
yesterday  that  I  found  it  out,  and  lifting  me  head  took 
a  look  at  the  hills  and  the  stars  for  the  first  time  in 

28 


MONEY    MAGIC 

twenty  years.     Tis  a  new  road  I'm  enterin' — whether 
you  come  to  me  or  not." 

All  this  was  wonderful  to  the  girl.  Could  it  be  that 
she  was  capable  of  changing  the  life  of  a  powerful  man 
like  this  ?  It  filled  her  with  a  sense  of  duty  as  well  as 
exaltation,  an  emotion  that  made  a  woman  of  her. 
She  seemed  suddenly  to  have  put  the  hotel  and  all  its 
worriments  far,  far  behind  her. 

Seized  by  an  impulse  to  acquaint  her  with  his  fam 
ily,  Haney  began  to  tell  about  his  father  and  his  at 
tempts  to  govern  his  five  sons.  "We  were  devils,"  he 
admitted — "broncos,  if  ever  such  walked  on  two  legs. 
We  wouldn't  go  to  school — not  wan  of  us  except  Charley ; 
he  did  pretty  well — and  we  fished  and  played  ball  and 
went  to  the  circus — "  He  chuckled.  "I  left  home 
the  first  time  with  a  circus.  I  wanted  to  be  a  lion- 
tamer,  but  had  to  content  meself  with  driving  the  cook 
wagon.  Then  I  struck  West,  and  I've  never  been  back 
and  I've  never  seen  the  old  man  since,  but  now  I've 
made  me  pile,  I  think  I'll  go  home  and  hunt  him  up 
and  buy  him  new  spectacles;  it's  ace  to  the  three-spot 
he's  using  the  same  horn-rimmed  ones  he  wore  when 
I  left." 

Bertha  was  interested.  "How  long  did  you  stay 
with  the  circus?" 

"Not  very  long.  I  got  homesick  and  went  back, 
but  the  next  time  I  left,  I  left  for  fair.  I've  been 
everywhere  but  East  since.  I've  been  in  Colorado 
mostly.  'Tis  a  good  State." 

"I  like  it — but  I'd  like  to  see  the  rest  of  the  country." 

"You  can.  If  you  join  hands  with  me  we'll  go  round 
the  ball  together." 

She  did  not  follow  this  lead.  "I've  been  to  Denver 
once — went  on  one  of  these  excursion  tickets." 

29 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"How  did  you  like  it  there?" 

"Pretty  good;  but  I  got  awful  tired,  and  the  grub 
at  the  hotel  was  the  worst  ever — it  was  a  cheap  place, 
of  course.  Didn't  dare  to  look  in  the  door  of  the  big 
places." 

"You  can  have  a  whole  soot  of  rooms  at  the  Royal 
Flush— if  you  will." 

Again  she  turned  away.  "I  can't  imagine  anybody 
rich  enough  to  live  at  such  hotels —  There's  our 
ranch." 

"Shy  as  a  coyote,  ain't  it?"  he  commented,  as  he 
looked  where  she  pointed.  "I'd  prefer  the  Eagle 
House  to  that." 

"I  love  it  out  here,"  she  said.  "I  helped  plant  the 
trees." 

"Did  you?  Then  I  want  the  place.  I  want  every 
thing  your  pretty  hands  planted." 

"Oh,  rats!"  was  her  reproving  comment,  and  it  made 
him  laugh  at  his  own  sentimental  speech. 

The  ranch  house  stood  at  the  foot  of  the  mesa  near 
a  creek  that  came  out  of  a  narrow  gorge  and  struck 
out  upon  the  flat  valley.  It  was  a  little  house — a 
shack  merely,  surrounded  by  a  few  out -buildings,  all 
looking  as  temporary  as  an  Indian  encampment,  but 
there  were  trees — thriftily  green — and  some  stacks 
of  grain  to  testify  to  the  energy  and  good  husbandry 
of  the  owner. 

Mrs.  Oilman  was  lying  in  a  corner  room,  close  to  the 
stream  which  rippled  through  the  little  orchard,  and 
its  gentle  murmur  had  been  a  comfort  to  her — it  car 
ried  her  back  to  her  home  in  Oxford  County  (State 
of  Maine),  where  her  early  girlhood  had  been  spent. 
At  times  it  seemed  that  she  was  in  the  little,  old,  gray 
house  in  the  valley,  and  that  her  fathsr's  sharp  voice 

30 


MONEY    MAGIC 

might  come  at  any  moment  to  break  her  delicious 
drowse. 

Her  breakdown  had  been  caused  as  much  by  her 
mental  turmoil  as  by  her  overtaxing  duties.  She  was 
confronted  by  a  mighty  temptation  (through  her  daugh 
ter)  at  a  time  when  she  was  too  weak  and  too  ill  to 
carry  forward  her  ordinary  duties.  To  urge  this  mar 
riage  upon  Bertha  would  be  to  bring  it  about.  That 
she  knew,  for  the  girl  had  said,  "I'll  do  it  if  you  say 
so,  mother." 

"I  don't  want  you  to  do  it  if  you'd  rather  not,"  had 
been  her  weak  answer. 

Bertie  entered  quietly,  in  a  singularly  mature,  almost 
manly  way,  and  bending  to  her  mother,  asked  cordially, 
"Well,  how  are  you  to-day?" 

The  sick  woman  took  her  daughter's  hand  and  drew 
it  to  her  tear-wet  cheek.  "Oh,  my  baby!  I  can't 
bear  to  leave  you  now." 

"Don't  talk  that  way,  mother.  You're  not  going 
to  leave  me.  The  doctor  is  coming  out  to  see  you,  and 
everything  is  going  all  right  at  the  house,  so  don't 
you  worry.  You  set  to  work  to  get  well.  That's  your 
little  stunt.  I'll  look  after  the  rest  of  it." 

Bertie  had  never  been  one  to  bestow  caresses,  even 
on  her  parents,  and  her  only  sign  of  deep  feeling  now 
lay  in  the  tremble  of  her  voice.  She  drew  her  hand 
away,  and  putting  her  arm  about  her  mother's  neck 
patted  her  cheek.  "Cassie's  doing  well,"  she  said, 
abruptly,  "and  the  girls  are  fine.  They  brace  right 
up  to  the  situation,  and — and  everybody's  nice  to  us. 
I  reckon  a  dozen  of  the  church  ladies  called  yester 
day  to  ask  how  you  were — and  Captain  Haney  came 
down  to-day  on  purpose  to  find  out  how  things  were 
going." 


MONEY    MAGIC 

The  sufferer's  eyes  opened  wide.  "Bert,  he's  with 
you!" 

"Yes,  he  drove  me  out  here,"  answered  the  girl, 
quietly.  "He's  come  for  an  answer  to  his  proposition. 
It's  up  to  us  to  decide  right  now." 

The  mother  broke  into  a  whimper.  "Oh,  darling,  I 
don't  know  what  to  think.  I'm  afraid  to  leave  this  to 
you — it's  an  awful  temptation  to  a  girl.  I  guess  I've 
decided  against  it.  He  ain't  the  kind  of  man  you 
ought  to  marry." 

She  hushed  her  mother's  wail.  "Sh!  He'll  hear 
you,"  she  said,  solemnly.  "There  are  lots  o'  worse 
men  than  Mart  Haney." 

"But  he's  so  old — for  you." 

"He's  no  boy,  that's  true,  but  we  went  all  over 
that.  The  new  fact  in  the  case  is  this:  he's  sold  out 
up  there — cleared  out  his  saloon  business — and  all  for 
me.  Think  o'  that — and  I  hadn't  given  him  a  word  of 
encouragement,  either!  Now  that  speaks  well  for  him, 
don't  you  think?" 

The  mother  nodded.    "Yes,  it  surely  does,  but  then — " 

The  girl  went  on:  "Well,  now,  it  ain't  as  though  I 
hated  him,  for  I  don't — I  like  him,  I've  always  liked 
him.  He's  the  handsomest  man  I  know,  and  he's 
treated  me  right  from  the  very  start.  He  didn't  come 
down  to  hurry  me  or  crowd  me  at  all,  so  he  says.  Well,  I 
told  him  I  wouldn't  answer  yet  awhile — time  isn't  really 
up  till  to-morrow.  I  can  take  another  week  if  I  want  to. ' ' 

The  mother  lay  in  silence  for  a  few  moments,  and 
then  with  closed  eyes,  streaming  with  hot  tears,  she 
again  prayed  silently  to  God  to  guide  her  girl  in  the 
right  path.  When  she  opened  her  eyes  the  tall  form 
of  Marshall  Haney  towered  over  her,  so  handsome,  so 
full  of  quiet  power  that  he  seemed  capable  of  any- 

32 


MONEY    MAGIC 

thing.  His  face  was  strangely  sweet  as  he  said:  "You 
must  not  fret  about  anything  another  minute.  You've 
but  to  lie  quiet  and  get  strong."  He  put  his  broad, 
soft,  warm,  and  muscular  hand  down  upon  her  two 
folded  ones,  and  added:  "Let  me  do  fer  ye  as  I  would 
fer  me  own  mother.  'Twill  not  commit  ye  to  a  thing." 
He  seemed  to  understand  her  mood — perhaps  he  had 
overheard  her  plea.  "I'm  not  asking  a  decision  till  you 
are  well,  but  I  wish  you  would  trust  me  now — I  could 
do  so  much  more  fer  you  and  the  girl.  Here's  the 
doctor,  so  put  the  whole  thing  by  for  the  present. 
I  ask  nothing  till  you  are  well." 

If  this  was  policy  on  his  part  it  was  successful;  for 
the  poor  tortured  mother's  heart  was  touched  and  her 
nerves  soothed  by  his  voice,  as  well  as  by  the  touch  of 
his  hand,  and  when  they  left  the  house  she  was  in 
peaceful  sleep,  and  the  doctor's  report  was  reassuring. 
"But  she  must  have  rest,"  he  said, 'positively,  "and 
freedom  from  care." 

"She  shall  have  it,"  said  Haney,  with  equal  decision. 

This  bluff  kindness,  joined  to  the  allurement  of  his 
powerful  form,  profoundly  affected  the  girl.  Her  heart 
went  out  towards  him  in  admiration  and  trust,  and  as 
they  were  on  the  way  home  she  turned  suddenly  to 
him,  and  said: 

"You're  good  to  me — and  you  were  good  to  mother; 
you  needn't  wait  till  to-morrow  for  my  answer.  I'll 
do  as  you  want  me  to — some  time — not  now — next 
spring,  maybe." 

He  put  his  arm  about  her  and  kissed  her,  his  eyes 
dim  with  a  new  and  softening  emotion. 

"You've  made  Mart  Haney  over  new — so  you  have! 
As  sure  as  God  lets  me  live,  I'll  make  you  happy.  You 
shall  live  like  a  queen." 

33 


CHAPTER  IV 

HANEY    MEETS    AN    AVENGER 

HANEY  took  the  train  back  to  his  mountain  town 
in  a  mood  which  made  him  regard  his  action  as 
that  of  a  stranger.  Whenever  he  recalled  Bertha's 
trusting  clasp  of  his  hand  he  felt  like  removing  his  hat 
— the  stir  of  his  heart  was  close  akin  to  religious 
reverence.  "Faith,  an'  she's  taking  a  big  risk,"  he 
said.  "But  I'll  not  see  her  lose  out,"  he  added,  with  a 
return  of  the  gambler's  phrase.  "She  has  stacked  her 
chips  on  the  right  spot  this  time." 

With  all  his  brute  force,  his  clouded  sense  of  justice, 
this  gambler,  this  saloon-man,  was  not  without  qualify 
ing  characteristics.  He  was  a  Celt,  and  in  almost  every 
Celt  there  is  hidden  a  poet.  Quick  to  wrath,  quick  to 
jest  and  fierce  in  his  loves  was  he,  as  is  the  typical  Irish 
man  whom  England  has  not  yet  succeeded  in  changing 
to  her  own  type.  Moreover,  he  was  an  American  as 
well  as  a  Celt  (and  the  American  is  the  most  sentimental 
of  men — it  is  said) ;  and  now  that  he  had  been  sur 
prised  into  honorable  matrimony  he  began  to  arrange 
his  affairs  for  his  wife's  pleasure  and  glory.  The 
words  in  which  she  had  accepted  him  lingered  in  his 
ears  like  phrases  of  a  little  hesitating  song.  For  her 
he  had  sold  his  gambling  halls,  for  her  he  was  willing 
at  the  moment  to  abandon  the  associates  of  a  life 
time. 

34 


MONEY    MAGIC 

He  was  sitting  in  the  car  dreamily  smoking,  his  hat 
drawn  low  over  his  brows,  when  an  acquaintance  pass 
ing  through  the  car  stopped  with  a  word  of  greeting. 
Ordinarily  Haney  would  have  been  glad  of  his  com 
pany,  but  he  made  a  place  for  him  at  this  time  with 
grudging  slowness. 

"How  are  ye,  Slater?     Set  ye  down." 

"I  hear  you've  sold  your  saloons,"  Slater  began,  as 
he  settled  into  place. 

Haney  nodded,  without  smiling. 

His  neighbor  grinned.  "You  don't  seem  very 
sociable  to-day,  Mart?" 

"I'm  not,"  Haney  replied,  bluntly. 

"I  just  dropped  down  beside  you  to  say  that  young 
Wilkinson  went  broke  in  your  place  last  night  and  has 
it  in  for  you.  He's  plum  fuzzy  with  drink,  and  you 
better  look  sharp  or  he'll  do  you.  He's  been  on  the 
rampage  for  two  days — crazy  as  a  loon." 

"Why  does  he  go  after  me?"  Haney  asked,  irritably. 
"I'm  out  of  it.  Tis  like  the  fool  tenderfoot.  Don't 
he  know  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  his  bust-up?" 

"He  don't  seem  to — or  else  he's  so  locoed  he's  forgot 
it.  All  I  know  is  he's  full  of  some  pizen  notion  against 
you,  and  I  thought  I'd  put  you  on  your  guard." 

They  talked  on  about  this  a  few  minutes,  and  then 
Slater  rose,  leaving  Haney  to  himself.  But  his  tender 
mood  was  gone.  His  brow  was  knit.  He  began  to 
understand  that  a  man  could  not  run  a  bad  business 
for  twenty  years,  and  then  at  a  day's  notice  clear  him 
self  of  all  its  trailing  evil  consequences.  "I'll  vamoose," 
he  said  to  himself,  with  resolution.  "I'll  put  me  mines 
in  order,  and  go  down  into  the  valley  and  take  the  girl 
with  me — God  bless  her!  We'll  take  a  little  turn  as 
far  as  New  York.  I'll  put  long  miles  between  the  two 

35 


MONEY    MAGIC 

of  us  and  all  this  sporting  record  of  mine.  She  don't 
like  it,  and  I'll  quit  it.  I'll  begin  a  new  life  entirely." 
And  a  glow  of  new-found  virtue  filled  his  heart.  Of 
Wilkinson  he  had  no  fear  —  only  disgust.  "Why 
should  the  fool  pursue  me?"  he  repeated.  "He  took 
his  chances  and  lost  out.  If  he  weren't  a  'farmer'  he'd 
drop  it." 

He  ate  his  supper  at  the  hotel  in  the  same  abstraction, 
and  then,  still  grave  with  plans  for  his  new  career, 
went  out  into  the  street  to  find  Williams,  his  partner. 
It  was  inevitable  that  he  should  bring  up  at  the  bar 
of  his  former  saloon ;  no  other  place  in  the  town  was  so 
much  like  home,  after  all.  Habit  drew  him  to  its 
familiar  walls.  He  was  glad  to  find  a  couple  of  old 
friends  there,  and  they,  having  but  just  heard  of  the 
sale  of  his  outfit,  hastened  to  greet  and  congratulate 
him.  Of  his  greatest  good-fortune,  of  his  highest  con 
quest,  they,  of  course,  knew  nothing,  and  he  was  not 
in  a  mood  to  tell  them  of  it. 

The  bar-room  was  nearly  empty,  for  the  reason  that 
the  miners  had  not  yet  finished  their  evening  meal,  and 
Haney  and  his  two  cronies  had  just  taken  their  second 
round  of  drinks  when  the  side  door  was  burst  violently 
open,  and  a  man,  white  and  wild,  with  a  double-barrelled 
shotgun  in  his  hand,  abruptly  entered.  Darting  across 
the  floor,  he  thrust  the  muzzle  of  his  weapon  almost 
against  Haney 's  breast  and  fired,  uttering  a  wild  curse 
at  the  moment  of  recoil. 

The  tall  gambler  reeled  under  the  shock,  swinging 
half  way  about,  his  hands  clutching  at  the  railing,  a 
look  of  anguish  and  surprise  upon  his  face.  The 
assassin,  intent,  alert,  would  have  fired  again  had  not 
a  by-stander  felled  him  to  the  floor.  The  room  filled 
instantly  with  excited  men  eager  to  strike,  vociferous 

36 


MONEY    MAGIC 

with  hate;  but  Haney,  with  one  palm  pressed  to  his 
breast,  stood  silent — curiously  silent — his  lips  white 
with  his  effort  at  self-control. 

At  length  two  of  his  friends  seized  him,  tenderly 
asking:  "How  is  it,  old  man?  Are  you  hurt  bad?" 

His  lips  moved — they  listened — as  he  faintly  whis 
pered:  "He's  got  me,  boys.  Here's  where  I  quit." 

"Don't  say  that,  Mart.  You'll  pull  through,"  said 
his  friend,  chokingly.  Then  with  ferocious  impatience 
he  yelled:  "Somebody  get  the  doctor!  Damn  it  all, 
get  moving!  Don't  you  see  him  bleed?" 

Haney  moved  his  head  feebly.  "Lay  me  down, 
Pete — I'm  torn  to  pieces — I'm  all  in,  I'm  afraid.  Get 
me  little  girl — that's  all  I  ask." 

Very  gently  they  took  him  in  their  arms  and  laid  him 
on  one  of  the  gambling-tables  in  the  rear  room,  while 
the  resolute  barkeeper  pushed  the  crowd  out. 

Again  Haney  called,  impatiently,  almost  fiercely: 
"Send  for  Bertie — quick  !" 

The  men  looked  at  each  other  in  wonder,  and  one 
of  them  tapped  his  brow  significantly,  for  no  one  knew 
of  his  latest  love-affair.  While  still  they  stared  Williams 
came  rushing  wildly  in.  All  gave  way  to  him,  and  the 
young  doctor  who  followed  him  was  greeted  with  low 
words  of  satisfaction.  To  his  partner,  whom  he  recog 
nized,  Haney  repeated  his  command :  "Send  for  Bertie." 
With  a  hurried  scrawl  Williams  put  down  the  girl's 
name  and  address  on  a  piece  of  paper,  and  shouted: 
"Here!  Somebody  take  this  and  rush  it.  Tell  her 
to  come  quick  as  the  Lord  will  let  her."  Then,  with 
the  tenderness  of  a  brother,  he  bent  to  Haney.  "How 
is  it,  Mart?" 

Mart  did  not  reply.  His  supreme  desire  attended  to, 
he  sank  into  a  patient  immobility  that  approached 

37 


MONEY    MAGIC 

stupor,  while  the  surgeon  worked  with  intent  haste  to 
stop  the  flow  of  blood.  The  wound  was  most  bar 
barous,  and  Williams'  eyes  filled  with  tears  as  he  looked 
upon  that  magnificent  torso  mangled  by  buckshot. 
He  loved  his  big  partner — Haney  was  indeed  his 
highest  enthusiasm,  his  chief  object  of  adoration,  and 
to  see  him  riddled  in  this  way  was  devil's  work.  He 
lost  hope.  "It's  all  over  with  Mart  Haney,"  he  said, 
chokingly,  a  few  minutes  later  to  the  men  crowding  the 
bar-room — and  then  his  rage  against  the  assassin  broke 
forth.  He  became  the  tiger  seeking  the  blood  of  him 
who  had  slain  his  mate.  His  curses  rose  to  primitive 
ferocity.  "Where  is  he?"  he  asked. 

To  him  stepped  a  man — one  whose  voice  was  quiet 
but  intense.  "We've  attended  to  his  case,  Williams. 
He's  toeing  the  moonlight  from  a  lamp-post.  Want  to 
see?" 

For  an  instant  his  rage  flared  out  against  these  offi 
cious  friends  who  had  cheated  him  of  his  share  in  the 
swift  delight  of  the  avenger.  Then  tears  again  misted  his 
eyes,  and  with  a  dignity  and  pathos  which  had  never 
graced  his  speech  before  he  pronounced  a  slow  eulogy 
upon  his  friend:  "No  man  had  a  right  to  accuse  Mart 
Haney  of  any  trick.  He  took  his  chances,  fair  and 
square.  He  had  no  play  with  crooked  cards  or  'doc 
tored'  wheels.  It  was  all  'above  board*  with  him. 
He  was  dead  game  and  a  sport,  you  all  know  that,  and 
now  to  be  ripped  to  bits  with  buckshot — just  when  he 
was  takin'  a  wife — is  hellish." 

His  voice  faltered,  and  in  the  dead  silence  which  fol 
lowed  this  revelation  of  Haney's  secret  he  turned  and 
re-entered  the  inner  room,  to  watch  beside  his  friend. 

The  hush  which  lay  over  the  men  at  the  bar  lasted 
till  the  barkeeper  softly  muttered:  "Boys,  that's 

38 


MONEY    MAGIC 

news  to  me.  It  does  make  it  just  too  tough."  Then 
those  who  had  hitherto  opposed  the  lynching  of  the 
murderer  changed  their  minds  and  directed  new 
malediction  against  him,  and  those  who  had  handled 
the  rope  took  keener  comfort  and  greater  honor  to 
themselves. 

"Who  is  the  woman?"  asked  one  of  those  who 
waited. 

This  question  remained  unanswered  till  the  messenger 
to  the  telegraph  office  returned.  Even  then  little  be 
yond  her  name  was  revealed,  but  each  of  the  watchers 
began  to  pray  that  she  might  reach  the  dying  man 
before  his  eyes  should  close  forever.  "He  can't  live 
till  sunrise,"  said  one,  "and  there  is  no  train  from  the 
Junction  till  morning.  She  can't  get  here  without  a 
special.  Did  you  order  a  special  for  her?" 

"No,  I  didn't  think  of  it,"  the  messenger  replied, 
with  a  sense  of  shortcoming. 

"It  must  be  done!" 

"I'll  attend  to  that,"  said  Slater.  "I  know  the 
superintendent.  I'll  wire  him  to  see  her — and  bring 
her." 

"Well,  be  quick  about  it.  Expense  don't  count 
now." 

It  was  beautiful  to  see  how  these  citizens,  rough  and 
sordid  as  many  of  them  were,  rose  to  the  poetic  value 
of  the  situation.  As  one  of  them,  who  had  seen  (and 
loved)  the  girl,  told  of  her  youth  and  beauty,  they  all 
stood  in  rigidly  silent  attention.  "She's  hardly  more 
than  a  child,"  he  explained,  "but  you  never  saw  a  more 
level-headed  little  business  woman  in  your  life.  She 
runs  the  Golden  Eagle  Hotel  at  Junction,  and  does  it 
alone.  That's  what  caught  Mart,  you  see.  She's  as 
straight  as  a  Ute,  and  her  eyes  are  clear  as  agates. 

39 


MONEY    MAGIC 

She's  a  little  captain — just  the  mate  for  Mart.  She'll 
save  him  if  anybody  can." 

' '  Will  she  come  ?     Can  she  get  away  ?" 

"Of  course  she'll  come.  She'll  ride  an  engine  or 
jump  a  flat-car  to  get  here.  You  can  depend  on  a 
woman  in  such  things.  She  don't  stop  to  calculate,  she 
ain't  that  kind.  She  comes — you  can  bet  high  on 
that.  I'm  only  worrying  for  fear  Mart  won't  hold  out 
till  she  gets  here." 

Meanwhile,  every  man  in  the  room  where  Haney 
lay,  sat  in  silence,  with  an  air  of  waiting — waiting  for 
the  inevitable  end.  The  bleeding  had  been  checked, 
but  the  sufferer's  breathing  was  painful  and  labored,  and 
the  doctor,  sitting  close  beside  him,  was  studying  means 
to  prolong  life — he  had  given  up  hope  of  saving  it. 
With  stiffened  lips  Haney  repeated  now  and  again: 
"Keep  me  alive  till  she  comes,  doctor.  She  must 
marry  me — here.  I  want  her  to  have  all  I've  got — 
everything/" 

At  another  time  he  said:  "Get  the  judge — have 
everything  ready!" 

They  understood.  He  wished  to  dower  his  love 
with  his  wealth,  to  place  in  her  hands  his  will,  beyond 
the  reach  of  any  contestant,  and  this  resolution  through 
the  hours  of  his  agony,  through  the  daze  of  his  weakness 
persisted  heroically — till  even  the  doctor's  throat  filled 
with  sympathetic  emotion,  as  he  thought  of  the  young 
maiden  soon  to  be  thrust  into  this  tragic  drama.  He 
answered,  soothingly:  "I'll  do  all  I  can,  Mart.  There's 
a  lot  of  vitality  in  you  yet.  We  won't  give  up.  You'll 
pull  through,  with  her  help." 

To  this  Haney  made  no  reply,  and  the  hours  passed 
with  ghostly  step.  It  was  a  most  moving  experience 
for  the  young  doctor  to  look  round  that  wide  room 

40 


MONEY    MAGIC 

littered  with  scattered  cards,  the  wheels  of  chance 
motionless  at  the  hazard  where  the  last  gambler's 
bet  had  ended.  In  the  "lookout's  chair,"  where 
Haney  himself  used  to  sit,  an  unseen  arbiter  now 
gloomed,  watching  a  game  where  life  was  the  forfeit. 
A  spectral  ringer  seemed  to  rest  upon  the  blood-red 
spot  of  every  board.  No  sound  came  from  the  drink- 
ing-saloon  in  front.  The  miners  had  all  withdrawn. 
Only  the  barkeeper  and  a  few  personal  friends  kept 
willing  vigil. 

About  nine  o'clock  an  answering  telegram  came  to 
Slater:  "Girl  just  leaving  on  special.  Will  make  all 
speed  possible." 

Haney  faintly  smiled  when  Williams  read  this 
message  to  him.  "I  knew  it,"  he  whispered,  "she'll 
come."  Then  his  lips  set  in  a  grim  line.  "And  I'll 
be  here  when  she  comes."  Thereafter  he  had  the  look 
of  a  man  who  hangs  with  hooked  fingers  in  iron  res 
olution  above  an  abyss,  husbanding  every  resource — 
forcing  himself  to  think  only  of  the  blue  sky  above  him. 

A  little  later  the  priest  knocked  at  the  door  and 
asked  to  see  the  dying  man,  but  to  this  request  Haney 
shook  his  head  and  whispered.  "No,  no;  I've  no 
strength  to  waste — 'tis  good  of  him.  Wait!  Tell  him 
to  be  here — to  marry  us—  And  with  this  request  the 
priest  was  forced  to  be  content.  "May  the  Lord  God 
be  merciful  to  him!"  he  exclaimed  fervently,  as  he 
turned  away. 

Once  again,  about  midnight,  the  wounded  man 
roused  up  to  say:  "The  ceremony  must  be  legal — I 
want  no  lawsuits  after.  The  girl  must  be  protected." 
He  was  thinking  of  his  brothers,  of  his  own  kind, 
rapacious  and  selfish.  Every  safeguard  must  be  thrown 
around  his  sweetheart's  life. 

4* 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"We'll  attend  to  that,"  answered  Williams,  who 
seemed  able  to  read  his  partner's  thoughts.  "We'll 
take  every  precaution.  He  wants  the  judge  to  be 
present  as  well  as  the  priest,"  he  explained  to  the 
doctor,  "so  that  if  the  girl  would  rather  she  can  be 
married  by  the  Court  as  well  as  by  the  Church." 

Every  man  in  the  secret  realized  fully  that  the  girl 
was  being  endowed  with  an  immense  fortune,  and  that 
she  would  inevitably  be  the  quarry  of  every  self- 
seeking  relative  whose  interest  would  be  served  by 
attacking  her  rights  in  the  premises.  "The  lawsuits 
must  be  cut  out,"  was  Williams'  order  to  the  judge. 
"  Mart's  brothers  are  a  wolfish  lot.  We  don't  want  any 
loose  ends  for  them  to  catch  on  to." 

From  time  to  time  messages  flashed  between  the  on 
coming  train  and  the  faithful  watchers.  "It's  all  up 
grade,  but  Johnson  is  breaking  all  records.  At  this 
rate  she'll  reach  here  by  daylight,"  said  Slater.  "But 
that's  a  long  time  for  Mart  to  wait  on  that  rough  bed," 
he  added  to  Williams,  with  deep  sympathy  in  his  voice. 

"I  know  that,  but  to  move  him  would  hasten  his 
death.  The  doctor  is  afraid  to  even  turn  him.  Besides, 
Mart  himself  won't  have  it.  '  I'm  better  here,'  he  says. 
So  we've  propped  him  into  the  easiest  position  possible. 
There's  nothing  to  do  but  wait  for  the  girl." 


CHAPTER  V 

BERTHA'S  UPWARD  FLIGHT 

BERTHA  was  eating  her  supper,  after  a  hard  day's 
work  in  her  little  hotel,  when  a  little  yellow  en 
velope  was  handed  to  her.  The  words  of  the  message 
were  few,  but  they  were  meaning-full:  "Come  at  once. 
Mart  hurt,  not  expected  to  live."  It  was  signed  by 
Williams.  While  still  she  sat  stunned  and  hesitant, 
under  the  weight  of  this  demand,  another  and  much 
more  explicit  telegram  came:  "Johnson,  superin 
tendent,  is  ordered  to  fetch  you  with  special  train. 
Don't  delay.  Mart  needs  you — is  calling  for  you. 
Come  at  once  !" 

The  phrase  "is  calling  for  you"  reached  her  heart — 
decided  her.  She  rose,  and,  with  a  word  of  explanation 
to  her  housekeeper,  put  on  her  hat,  and  threw  a  cloak 
over  her  arm.  "I've  got  to  go  to  Cripple.  Captain 
Haney  is  sick,  and  I've  got  to  go  to  him.  I  don't  know 
when  I'll  be  back,"  she  said.  "Get  along  the  best  you 
can."  Her  face  was  white  but  calm,  and  her  manner 
deliberate.  "Send  word  to  mother  that  Mart  is  hurt, 
and  I've  gone  up  to  see  him.  Tell  her  not  to  worry." 

To  her  night  clerk,  who  had  come  on  duty,  she  quietly 
remarked:  "I  reckon  you'll  have  to  look  after  things 
to-morrow.  I'll  try  to  get  back  the  day  after.  If  I 
don't,  Lem  Markham  will  take  my  place."  While 
still  she  stood  arranging  the  details  of  her  business  a 

43 


MONEY    MAGIC 

short,  dark  man  stepped  inside  the  door,  and  very 
kindly  and  gravely  explained  his  errand.  "I'm  John 
son,  the  division  superintendent.  They've  telegraph 
ed  me  for  a  special,  and  I'm  going  to  take  you  up  my 
self.  Mart  is  a  friend  of  mine,"  he  added,  with  some 
feeling. 

She  thanked  him  with  a  look  and  a  quick  clasp  of  his 
hand,  and  together  they  hurried  into  the  street  and 
down  to  the  station,  where  a  locomotive  coupled  to  a 
single  coach  stood  panting  like  a  fierce  animal,  a  cloud 
of  spark-lit  smoke  rolling  from  its  low  stack.  The 
coach  was  merely  a  short  caboose ;  but  the  girl  stepped 
into  it  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  and  the  engine 
took  the  track  like  a  spirited  horse.  As  the  fireman 
got  up  speed  the  car  began  to  rock  and  roll  violently, 
and  Johnson  remarked  to  the  girl:  "I  guess  you'd 
better  take  my  chair;  it's  bolted  to  the  floor,  and  you 
can  hang  on  when  we  go  round  the  curves." 

She  obeyed  instantly,  and  with  her  small  hands 
gripping  the  arm -rests  of  the  rude  seat  cowered  in 
silence,  while  the  clambering  monster  rushed  and 
roared  over  the  level  lands  and  labored  up  the  grades, 
shrieking  now  and  again,  as  if  in  mingled  pain  and 
warning.  Johnson  and  the  brakeman,  for  the  most 
part,  kept  to  the  lookout  in  the  turret,  and  the  girl  rode 
alone — rode  far,  passing  swiftly  from  girlhood  to 
womanhood,  so  full  of  enforced  meditation  were  the 
hours  of  that  ride.  It  seemed  that  she  was  leaving 
something  sweet  and  care-free  behind  her,  and  it  was 
certain  that  she  was  about  to  face  death.  She  had  one 
perfectly  clear  conception,  and  that  was  that  the  man 
who  had  been  most  kind  to  her,  and  to  whom  she  had 
given  her  promise  of  marriage,  was  dying  and  needed 
her — -was  calling  for  her  through  the  night. 

44 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Burdened  with  responsibility  from  her  childhood, 
accustomed  to  make  her  own  decisions,  she  had  re 
sponded  to  this  prayer,  knowing  dimly  that  this  journey 
denoted  a  new  and  portentous  experience — a  funda 
mental  change  in  her  life. 

She  had  admired  and  liked  Haney  from  the  first,  but 
her  feeling  even  yet  was  very  like  that  of  a  boy  for  a 
man  of  heroic  statue — her  regard  had  very  little  of 
woman's  passion  in  it.  She  was  appalled  and  benumb 
ed  by  the  thought  that  she  was  soon  to  look  upon  him 
lying  prone.  That  she  might  soon  be  called  upon  to 
meet  those  bold  eyes  closing  in  death  she  had  been 
warned,  and  yet  she  did  not  shrink  from  it.  The  nurse, 
latent  in  every  woman,  rose  in  her,  and  she  ached  with 
desire  of  haste,  longing  to  lay  her  hand  upon  the  suf 
fering  man  in  some  healing  way.  His  kindness,  his 
gentleness,  during  the  days  of  his  final  courtship  had 
sunk  deep — his  generosity  had  been  so  full,  so  free,  so 
unhesitating. 

She  thought  of  her  mother,  and  as  a  fuller  conception 
of  the  alarm  and  anxiety  she  would  feel  came  to  her,  she 
decided  to  send  her  a  telegram.  "She  will  know  it 
was  my  duty  to  go,"  she  decided.  "As  for  the  hotel — 
what  does  it  matter  now  ?"  Nothing  seemed  to  matter, 
indeed,  save  the  speed  of  her  chariot. 

The  night  was  long,  interminably  long.  Once  and 
again  Johnson  came  down  out  of  his  perch,  and  spoke 
a  few  clumsy  words  of  well-meaning  encouragement, 
but  found  her  unresponsive.  Her  brain  was  too  busy 
with  taking  leave  of  old  conceptions  and  in  mastering 
new  duties  to  be  otherwise  than  vaguely  grateful  to 
her  companions.  Her  mind  was  clear  on  one  other 
point — this  journey  committed  her  to  Marshall  Haney. 
There  could  be  no  further  hesitation .  ' '  Some  time ,  soon , 

45 


MONEY    MAGIC 

if  he  lives,  I  must  marry  him,"  she  thought,  and  the 
conception  troubled  her  with  a  new  revelation  of  what 
that  relationship  might  mean.  She  felt  suddenly  very 
small,  very  weak,  and  very  helpless.  "He  must  be 
good  to  me,"  she  murmured.  And  then,  as  the  words 
of  his  prayer  to  her  came  back,  she  added:  "And  I'll 
be  good  to  him." 

Far  and  farther  below  her  shone  the  lights  in  the 
little  hotel,  and  the  busy  and  jocund  scenes  of  her  girlish 
life  receded  swiftly.  At  this  moment  her  desk  and  the 
little  sitting-room  where  the  men  lounged  seemed  a 
haven  of  peace  and  plenty,  and  the  car,  rocking  and 
plunging  through  the  night,  was  like  a  ship  rising  and 
falling  on  wild  seas  under  unknown  stars. 

The  clear  light  of  the  mountain  dawn  was  burnishing 
brass  into  gold  as  the  locomotive  with  its  tolling  bell 
slid  up  the  level  track  at  the  end  of  its  run,  and  came 
to  a  stealthy  halt  beside  the  small  station. 

"Here  we  are!"  called  Johnson  from  his  turret,  and 
Bertha  rose,  stiff  and  sore  with  the  long  night's  ride, 
her  resolution  cooled  to  a  kind  of  passive  endurance. 
"I'm  ready!"  she  called  back. 

Williams  met  her  at  the  step.  "It's  all  right,  sis. 
Mart's  still  here — and  waiting  for  you." 

Instantly,  at  sight  of  his  ugly,  familiar,  friendly  face, 
she  became  alert,  clear-brained.  "How  is  he?" 

"Pretty  bad." 

"What's  it  all  about?     How  did  it  happen?" 

"I'll  clear  that  up  as  we  go,"  he  replied,  and  led  the 
way  to  a  carriage. 

Once  inside,  she  turned  her  keen  gaze  upon  him. 
"Now  go  ahead — straight." 

He  did  so  in  the  blunt  terms  of  a  man  whose  life  had 
46 


MONEY    MAGIC 

been  always  on  the  border,  and  who  has  no  nice  shading 
in  act  or  word. 

"Is  he  dying?"  she  asked  at  the  first  pause. 

"I'm  afraid  he  is,  sister,"  he  replied,  gently.  "That's 
what's  made  the  night  seem  long  to  us;  but  you're 
here,  and  it's  all  right  now." 

That  she  was  to  look  on  him  dying  had  been  per 
sistently  in  her  mind,  but  that  she  was  to  see  him 
mangled  by  an  assassin  added  horror  to  her  dread. 
In  spite  of  her  intrepid  manner,  she  was  still  girl  enough 
to  shudder  at  the  sight  of  blood. 

Williams  went  on.  "He's  weak,  too  weak  to  talk 
much,  and  so  I'm  going  to  tell  you  what  he  wants.  He 
wants  you  to  marry  him  before  he  dies." 

The  girl  drew  away.     "Not  this  minute — to-night?" 

"Yes;  he  wants  to  give  you  legal  rights  to  all  he  has, 
and  you've  got  to  do  it  quick.  No  tellin'  what  may 
happen."  His  voice  choked  as  he  said  this. 

Bertha's  blood  chilled  with  dismay.  Her  throat 
filled  and  her  bosom  swelled  with  the  effort  she  made 
at  self-control,  and  Williams,  watching  her  with  bright 
eyes  of  admiration,  hurried  on  to  the  end.  "Every 
thing  is  ready.  There  is  a  priest,  if  you  want  him,  and 
Judge  Brady  with  a  civil  ceremony,  if  that  will  please 
you  better,  or  we'll  get  a  Protestant  minister;  it's 
for  you  to  say.  Only  the  knot  must  be  tied  good  and 
tight.  I  told  the  boys  you'd  take  a  priest  for  Mart's 
sake.  He  says:  'Make  it  water-proof.'  He  means  so 
that  no  will-breaking  brothers  or  cousins  can  stack  the 
cards  agin  you.  And  now  it's  up  to  you,  little  sister. 
He  has  only  a  few  hours  anyway,  and  I  don't  see  that 
you  can  refuse,  specially  as  it  makes  his  dying — "  He 
stopped  there. 

The  street  was  silent  as  they  drew  up  to  the  saloon 
47 


MONEY    MAGIC 

door,  and  only  Slater  and  one  or  two  of  his  friends  were 
present  when  Bertha  walked  into  the  bar-room,  erect 
as  a  boy,  her  calm,  sweet  face  ashen  white  in  the  electric 
light.  For  an  instant  she  stood  there  in  the  middle  of 
the  floor  alone,  her  big  dark  eyes  searching  every  face. 
Then  Judge  Brady,  a  kindly,  gray-haired  man,  advanced, 
and  took  her  hand.  "We're  very  glad  to  see  you,"  he 
gravely  said,  introducing  himself.  Williams,  who  had 
entered  the  inner  room,  returned  instantly  to  say: 
"Come,  he's  waiting." 

Without  a  word  the  bride  entered  the  presence  of 
her  groom,  and  the  doctor,  bending  low  to  the  gambler, 
said:  "Be  careful  now,  Mart.  Don't  try  to  rise.  Be 
perfectly  still.  Bertie  has  come." 

Haney  turned  with  a  smile — a  tender,  humorous 
smile — and  whispered:  "Bertie,  acushla  mavourneen, 
come  to  me!" 

Then  the  watchers  withdrew,  leaving  them  alone, 
and  the  girl,  bending  above  him,  kissed  him.  "Oh, 
Captain,  can't  I  do  something?  I  must  do  something." 

"Yes,  darlin',  ye  can.  You  can  marry  me  this 
minute,  and  ye  shall.  I'm  dyin',  girl — so  the  doctor 
says.  I  don't  feel  it  that  way;  but,  annyhow,  we  take 
no  chances.  All  I  have  is  for  you,  and  so — 

She  put  her  hand  over  his  lips.  "You  must  be  quiet. 
I  understand,  and  I  will  do  it — but  only  to  make  you 
well."  She  turned  to  the  door,  and  her  voice  was  clear 
as  she  said  to  those  who  waited:  "I  am  ready." 

"Will  you  have  Father  Kearney?"  asked  Williams. 

She  turned  towards  Haney.     "Just  as  he  says." 

The  stricken  miner,  ghastly  with  the  pain  brought  on 
by  movement,  responded  to  the  doctor's  question,  only 
by  a  whisper:  "The  priest — first." 

The  girl  heard,  and  her  fine,  clear  glance  rested  upon 

48 


MONEY    MAGIC 

the  face  of  the  priest.  Tears  were  on  her  cheeks,  but 
a  kind  of  exultation  was  in  her  tone  as  she  said:  "I  am 
willing,  father." 

With  a  look  which  denoted  his  appreciation  of  the 
girl's  courage,  the  priest  stepped  forward  and  led  her 
to  her  place  beside  her  bridegroom.  She  took  Haney's 
big  nerveless  hand  in  her  firm  grasp,  and  together  they 
listened  to  the  solemn  words  which  made  them  hus 
band  and  wife.  It  seemed  that  the  gambler  was  pass 
ing  into  the  shadow  during  the  opening  prayer,  but  his 
whispered  responses  came  at  the  proper  pauses,  and 
only  when  the  final  benediction  was  given,  and  the 
priest  and  the  judge  fell  back  before  the  rush  of  the 
young  doctor,  did  the  wounded  man's  eyes  close  in 
final  collapse.  He  had  indeed  reached  the  end  of  his 
endurance. 

The  young  wife  spoke  then,  imperiously,  almost 
fiercely,  asking:  "Why  is  he  lying  here?  This  is  no 
place  for  him." 

The  doctor  explained.  ' '  We  were  afraid  to  move  him 
— till  you  came.  In  fact,  he  wouldn't  let  me  move 
him.  If  you  say  so  now,  we  will  take  him  up."  With 
these  words  the  watchers  shifted  their  responsibility 
to  her  shoulders,  uttering  sighs  of  deep  relief.  What 
ever  happened  now,  Mart's  will  had  been  secured.  At 
her  command  they  lifted  the  table  on  which  her  hus 
band  lay,  and  the  wife  walked  beside  it,  unheeding  the 
throngs  of  silent  men  walling  her  path.  Every  one 
made  way  for  her,  waited  upon  her,  eager  to  serve  her, 
partly  because  she  was  Marshall  Haney's  wife,  but 
more  because  of  her  youth  and  the  brave  heart  which 
looked  from  her  clear  and  candid  eyes. 

She  showed  no  hesitation  now,  gave  out  no  word 
of  weakness;  on  the  contrary,  she  commanded  with 

49 


MONEY    MAGIC 

certainty  and  precision,  calling  to  her  aid  all  that  the 
city  afforded.  Not  till  she  had  summoned  the  best 
surgeons  and  was  sure  that  everything  had  been  done 
that  could  be  done  did  she  permit  herself  to  relax — or 
to  think  of  rest  or  her  mother. 

When  she  had  sunk  to  sleep  upon  a  couch  beside  her 
husband's  bed,  Williams,  with  a  note  of  deep  admira 
tion,  demanded  of  the  surgeon:  "Ain't  she  a  little 
Captain?  Mart  can't  die  now,  can  he?  He's  got  too 
much  to  live  for." 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    HANEY    PALACE 

ONE  day  early  in  the  following  summer  a  tall,  thin 
man,  with  one  helpless  side,  entered  the  big 
luminous  hall  of  the  Antlers  Hotel  at  the  Springs, 
upheld  by  a  stalwart  attendant,  and  accompanied  by 
a  sweet-faced,  calm-lipped  young  woman.  This  was 
Marshall  Haney  and  his  young  wife  Bertha,  down  from 
the  mountain  for  the  first  time  since  his  illness,  and 
those  who  knew  their  story  and  recognized  them,  stood 
aside  with  a  thrill  of  pity  for  the  man  and  a  look  of 
admiration  for  the  girl,  whose  bravery  and  devotion  had 
done  so  much  to  bring  her  husband  back  to  life  and  to 
a  growing  measure  of  his  former  strength. 

Marshall  Haney  was,  indeed,  but  a  poor  hulk  of  his 
stalwart  self.  One  lung  had  been  deeply  torn,  his  left 
shoulder  was  almost  wholly  disabled,  and  he  walked 
with  a  stoop  and  shuffle;  but  his  physical  weakening 
was  not  more  marked  than  his  mental  mellowing.  He 
was  softened — "gentled,"  as  the  horsemen  say.  His 
eyes  were  larger,  and  his  face,  once  so  stern  and  master 
ful,  gave  out  an  appealing  expression  by  reason  of  the 
deep  horizontal  wrinkles  which  had  developed  in  his 
brow.  He  had  grown  a  mustache,  and  this  being  gray 
gave  him  an  older  look — older  and  more  military.  It 
was  plain,  also,  that  he  leaned  upon  his  keen-eyed,  im 
passive  little  wife,  who  never  for  one  moment  lost  her 


MONEY    MAGIC 

hold  upon  herself  or  her  surroundings.  Her  flashing 
glances  took  note  of  everything  about  her,  and  her 
lips  were  close-set  and  firm. 

Williams,  ugly  and  wordless  as  ever,  followed  them 
with  a  proud  smile  till  they  entered  the  handsome 
suite  of  rooms  which  had  been  reserved  for  them. 
"There's  nothing  too  good  for  Marshall  Haney  and  his 
side-partner,"  he  exulted  to  the  bell-boy. 

Thereupon,  Mart,  with  a  look  of  reverence  at  his 
young  bride,  replied:  "She's  aimed  it — and  more!" 

A  sigh  was  in  his  voice  and  a  singular  appeal  in  his 
big  eyes  as  he  sank  into  an  easy-chair.  "I  believe  I  do 
feel  better  down  here;  my  heart  seems  to  work  aisier. 
I'm  going  to  get  well  now,  darlin'." 

"Of  course  you  are,"  she  answered,  in  the  tone  of  a 
daughter;  then  added,  with  a  smile:  "I  like  it  here. 
Why  not  settle?" 

To  her  Colorado  Springs  was  a  dazzling  social  centre. 
The  beauty  of  the  homes  along  its  wride  streets,  the 
splendor  of  its  private  carriages,  affected  her  almost  as 
deeply  as  the  magnitude  and  glory  of  Denver  itself; 
but  she  was  not  of  those  who  display  their  weaknesses 
and  diffidence.  She  ate  her  first  dinner  in  the  lofty 
Antlers  dining-hall  with  quiet  dignity,  and  would  not 
have  been  particularly  noticed  but  for  Haney,  who  was 
well-known  to  the  waiters  of  the  hotel.  Her  associa 
tion  with  him  had  made  her  a  marked  figure  in  their 
mountain  towns,  and  she  was  accustomed  to  comment. 

She  met  the  men  who  addressed  her  with  entire  fear 
lessness  and  candor  (she  was  afraid  only  of  women  in 
good  clothes),  speaking  with  the  easy  slanginess  of 
a  herder,  using  naturally  and  unconsciously  the  most 
picturesque  phrases  of  the  West.  Her  speech  was 
incisive  and  unhesitating,  yet  not  swift.  She  never 

52 


MONEY    MAGIC 

chattered,  but  "you  bet"  and  "all  right"  were  au 
thorized  English  so  far  as  she  was  concerned.  "They 
say  you  can't  beat  this  town  anywhere  for  society,  and 
I  sure  like  the  looks  of  what  we've  seen.  Suppose  we 
hang  around  this  hotel  for  a  while — not  too  long,  for 
it's  mighty  expensive."  Here  she  smiled — a  quick, 
flashing  smile.  "You  see,  I  can't  get  used  to  spending 
money  —  I'm  afraid  all  the  time  I'll  wake  up.  It's 
just  like  a  dream  I  used  to  have  of  finding  chink — I 
always  came  to  before  I  had  a  chance  to  handle  it  and 
see  if  it  was  real." 

Haney  answered,  indulgently:  "'Tis  all  real,  Bertie. 
I'll  show  you  that  when  I'm  meself  again." 

"Oh,  I  believe  it — at  least,  part  of  the  time,"  she 
retorted.  "But  I'll  have  to  flash  a  roll  to  do  it — 
checks  are  no  good.  I  could  sign  a  million  checks  and 
not  have  'em  seem  like  real  money.  I'm  from  Missouri 
when  it  comes  to  cash." 

Mrs.  Oilman,  who  had  always  stood  in  bewilderment 
and  wonder  of  her  daughter,  wTas  entirely  subject  now. 
She  and  Williams  usually  moved  in  silence,  like  adoring 
subjects  in  the  presence  of  their  sovereigns.  They 
had  no  doubts  whatsoever  concerning  the  power  and 
primacy  of  gold;  and  as  for  Haney  himself,  his  un 
questioning  confidence  in  his  little  wife's  judgment  had 
come  to  be  like  an  article  of  religious  faith. 

After  breakfast  on  the  second  day  of  her  stay  Bertha 
ordered  a  carriage,  and  they  drove  about  the  town  in 
the  brilliant  morning  sunshine,  looking  for  a  place  to 
build.  She  resembled  a  little  home-seeking  sparrow. 
Every  cosey  cottage  was  to  her  an  almost  irresistible 
allurement.  "There's  a  dandy  place,  Captain,"  she 
called  several  times.  "Wouldn't  you  like  a  house  like 
that?" 

53 


MONEY    MAGIC 

He,  with  larger  notions,  shook  his  head  each  time. 
"Too  small,  Bertie.  We've  the  right  to  a  fine  big  place 
— like  that,  now."  He  nodded  towards  a  stately  gray- 
stone  mansion,  with  the  sign  "For  Sale"  planted  on 
its  lawn. 

She  was  aghast.  "Gee!  what  would  we  do  with  a 
state-house  like  that?" 

"Live  in  it,  sure." 

"It  would  need  four  chamber-maids  and  two  hired 
men  to  take  care  of  a  place  like  that.  And  think  of  the 
money  it  would  spoil  to  stock  it  with  furniture!" 
Nevertheless,  she  gazed  at  it  longingly.  "I'd  sure  like 
that  big  garden  and  that  porch.  You  could  sit  on  that 
porch  and  see  the  mountains,  couldn't  you?  But  my 
ears  and  whiskers,  the  expense  of  keeping  it!" 

They  passed  on  to  other  and  less  palatial  possibili 
ties,  and  returned  to  the  hotel  undecided.  The  two 
women,  bewildered  and  weary,  diverged  and  discussed 
the  matter  of  dress  till  the  mid-day  meal. 

"I  like  being  rich,"  remarked  the  young  wife,  as 
they  took  their  seats  in  the  lovely  dining-room,  and 
looked  about  at  the  tables  so  shining,  so  dainty.  "It 
would  be  fun  to  run  a  house  like  this,  don't  you  think  ?" 
She  addressed  her  mother. 

"Good  gracious,  no!  Think  of  the  bill  for  help  and 
the  worry  of  looking  after  all  this  silver!  No,  it's  too 
splendid  for  us." 

Haney  still  retained  enough  of  his  ancient  humor  to 
smile  at  them.  "I'd  rather  see  you  manage  that  big 
stone  house  with  the  porch  which  I'm  going  to  buy." 

"You  don't  mean  it?"  said  Bertha,  while  Mrs.  Gil- 
man  stared  at  him  over  her  soup. 

He  went  on  quietly.  "Sure!  Me  mind's  made  up. 
You  want  the  garden  and  I  like  the  porch;  so  'phone 

54 


MONEY    MAGIC 

the  agent  after  dinner,  and  we'll  go  up  and  see  to  it  this 
very  afternoon." 

Bertha's  bosom  heaved  with  excitement,  and  her 
eyes  expanded.  "I'd  like  just  once  to  see  the  inside 
of  a  house  like  that.  It  must  be  half  as  big  as  this 
hotel — but  to  own  it!  You're  crazy,  Captain." 

The  remote  possibility  of  walking  through  that  won 
derful  mansion  took  away  the  young  wife's  appetite, 
and  she  became  silent  and  reflective  in  the  face  of  a 
delicious  fried  chicken.  The  magic  of  her  husband's 
wealth  began  to  make  itself  most  potently  felt. 

Haney  insisted  on  smoking  a  cigar  in  the  lobby. 
Bertha  took  her  mother  away  to  talk  over  the  tre 
mendous  decision  which  was  about  to  be  thrust  upon 
them.  "We  want  a  house,"  said  she,  decisively,  "but 
not  a  palace  like  that.  What  would  we  do  with  it? 
It  scares  me  up  a  tree  to  think  of  it." 

"I  guess  he  was  only  joking,"  Mrs.  Oilman  agreed. 

"I  can  see  the  porch  would  be  fine  for  him,"  Bertha 
went  on.  "But,  jiminy  spelter,  we'd  all  be  lost  in  the 
place!" 

Haney  called  Williams  to  his  side,  and  told  him  of 
the  house.  "It's  a  big  place,  but  I  want  it.  Go  you 
and  see  the  agent.  My  little  girl  needs  a  roof,  and 
why  not  the  best?" 

"Sure!"  replied  Williams,  with  conviction.  "She's 
entitled  to  a  castle.  You  round  up  the  women,  and 
I'll  do  the  rest." 

The  house  proved  to  be  even  more  splendid  and 
spacious  than  its  exterior  indicated,  and  Bertha  walked 
its  wide  halls  with  breathless  delight.  After  a  hurried 
survey  of  the  interior,  they  came  out  upon  the  broad 
veranda,  and  lingered  long  in  awe  and  wonder  of  the 
outlook.  To  the  west  lay  a  glorious  garden  of  fruits  and 
5  55 


MONEY    MAGIC 

flowers;  a  fountain  was  playing  over  the  rich  green 
grass ;  high  above  the  tops  of  the  pear  and  peach  trees 
(which  made  a  little  copse)  rose  the  purple  peaks  of  the 
Rampart  range. 

"Oh,  isn't  it  great!"  exclaimed  Bertha. 

Haney  turned  to  the  agent  with  a  tense  look  on  his 
pale  face — a  look  of  exultant  power. 

"Make  out  your  papers,"  said  he,  quietly.  "We 
take  the  place — as  it  stands." 

Bertha  was  overwhelmed  by  this  flourish  of  the 
enchanter's  wand — but  only  for  a  moment.  No  sooner 
was  the  contract  signed  than  she  roused  herself  as  to  a 
new  business  venture.  "Well,  now,  the  first  thing  is 
furniture.  Let's  see!  There  is  some  carpets  and  cur 
tains  in  the  place,  isn't  there?  And  a  steel  range. 
It's  up  to  me  to  rustle  the  balance  of  the  outfit  to 
gether  right  lively." 

And  so  she  set  to  work  quite  as  she  would  have  done 
in  outfitting  a  new  hotel — so  many  beds,  so  many  chairs 
in  a  room,  so  many  dressers,  and  soon  had  a  long  list 
made  out  and  the  order  placed. 

She  spent  every  available  moment  of  her  time  for 
the  next  two  days  getting  the  kitchen  and  dining- 
room  in  running  order,  and  when  she  had  two  beds 
ready  insisted  on  moving  in.  "We  can  kind  o'  camp 
out  in  the  place  till  we  get  stocked  up.  I'm  crazy  to 
be  under  our  own  roof." 

Haney,  almost  as  eager  as  she,  consented,  and  on  the 
third  day  they  drove  up  to  the  door,  dismissed  their 
hired  coachman,  and  stepped  inside  the  gate — master 
and  mistress  of  an  American  chateau. 

Mart  turned,  and,  with  misty  eyes  and  a  voice  choked 
with  happiness,  said:  "Well,  darlin',wehaveit  now — the 
palace  of  the  fairy  stories." 

56 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"It's  great,"  she  repeated,  musingly;  "but  I  can't 
make  it  seem  like  a  home — mebbe  it'll  change  when  I 
get  it  filled  with  furniture,  but  the  garden  is  sure  all 
right." 

They  took  their  first  meal  on  the  porch  overlooking 
the  mountains,  listening  to  the  breeze  in  the  vines. 
It  was  heavenly  sweet  after  the  barren  squalor  of  their 
Cripple  Creek  home,  and  they  did  little  but  gaze  and 
dream. 

"We  need  a  team,"  Bertha  said,  at  last. 

"Buy  one,"  replied  Haney. 

So  Bertha  bought  a  carriage  and  a  fine  black  span. 
This  expenditure  involved  a  coachman,  and  to  fill  that 
position  an  old  friend  of  Williams' — a  talkative  and 
officious  old  miner — was  employed.  She  next  secured 
a  Chinese  cook,  the  best  to  be  had,  and  a  girl  to  do  the 
chamber- work.  They  were  all  busy  as  hornets,  and 
Bertha  lived  in  a  glow  of  excitement  every  waking 
hour  of  the  day — though  she  did  not  show  it. 

Haney's  check-book  was  quite  as  wonderful  in  its 
way  as  Aladdin's  lamp,  and  little  by  little  the  women 
permitted  themselves  to  draw  upon  its  magic.  The 
shining  span  of  blacks,  with  flowing  manes  and  champ 
ing  bits,  became  a  feature  of  the  avenue  as  the  women 
drove  up  and  down  on  their  never-ending  quest  for 
household  luxuries — they  had  gone  beyond  mere 
necessities.  Mart  usually  went  with  them,  sitting  in 
the  carriage  while  they  "visited"  with  the  grocery 
clerks  and  furniture  dealers.  They  were  very  popular 
with  these  people,  as  was  natural. 

"Little  Mrs.  Haney"  became  at  once  the  subject  of 
endless  comment  —  mostly  unfavorable;  for  Mart's 
saloon-made  reputation  was  well-known,  and  the  current 
notion  of  a  woman  who  would  marry  him  was  not  high. 

57 


MONEY    MAGIC 

She  was  reported,  in  the  alien  circles  of  the  town,  to  be  a 
vulgar  little  chamber-maid  who  had  taken  a  gambler  for 
his  money  at  a  time  when  he  was  supposed  to  be  on  his 
death-bed,  and  her  elevation  to  the  management  of  a 
palatial  residence  was  pointed  out  as  being  "peculiarly 
Western-American. ' ' 

The  men,  however,  were  much  more  tolerant  of 
judgment  than  their  women.  They  had  become  more 
or  less  hardened  to  seeing  crude  miners  luxuriating 
in  sudden,  accidental  wealth;  therefore,  they  nodded 
good-humoredly  at  Haney  and  tipped  their  hats  to  his 
pretty  wife  with  smiles.  As  bankers,  tradesmen,  and 
taxpayers  generally  they  could  not  afford  to  neglect  a 
citizen  possessed  of  so  much  wealth  and  circumstance. 

Mrs.  Oilman  presented  a  letter  of  introduction  to  the 
nearest  church  of  her  own  persuasion,  and  went  to  ser 
vice  quite  as  unassumingly  as  in  Sibley,  and  was  greeted 
by  a  few  of  the  ladies  there  cordially  and  without  hint 
of  her  son-in-law's  connections.  Two  or  three,  includ 
ing  the  pastor's  wife,  made  special  effort  to  cultivate 
her  acquaintance  by  calling  immediately,  but  they  were 
not  of  those  who  attracted  Bertha;  and  though  she 
showed  them  about  the  house  and  answered  their 
questions,  she  did  not  promise  to  call.  "We're  too 
busy,"  she  explained.  "I  haven't  got  more  than  half 
the  rooms  into  shape,  and,  besides,  we're  to  have  my 
brother's  folks  down  from  the  Junction — we're  on  the 
hustle  all  day  long." 

This  was  true.  She  had  been  quite  besieged  by  her 
former  neighbors  in  Sibley,  who  found  it  convenient  to 
"put  up  with  the  Haneys"  while  visiting  the  town. 
They  were,  in  fact,  very  curious  to  study  her  in  her 
new  and  splendid  setting;  and  though  some  of  them 
peeked  and  peered  amid  the  beds,  and  thumped  the 

58 


MONEY    MAGIC 

mattresses  in  vulgar  curiosity,  the  young  housewife 
merely  laughed.  All  her  life  had  been  spent  among 
folk  of  this  directly  inquisitive  sort.  She  expected  them 
to  act  as  they  did,  and,  being  a  hearty  and  generous 
soul,  as  well  as  a  very  democratic  one,  she  sent  them 
away  happy. 

Indeed,  she  won  praise  from  all  who  came  to  know 
her.  But  that  small  part  of  the  Springs — alien  and  ex 
clusive — which  considered  itself  higher  if  not  better 
than  the  rest  of  the  Western  world,  looked  askance  at 
"the  gambler's  wife  and  her  freak  friends,"  and  Mrs. 
Crego,  who  was  inclined  to  be  very  censorious,  alluded 
to  the  Haneys  as  "beggars  on  horseback"  as  she 
met  them  on  the  boulevard. 

Of  all  this  critical  comment  Bertha  remained,  hap 
pily,  unconscious,  and  it  is  probable  that  she  would 
soon  have  won  her  way  to  a  decent  circle  of  friends  had 
not  Charles  Haney  descended  upon  them  like  a  plague. 
Mart  had  been  receiving  letters  from  this  brother,  but 
had  said  nothing  to  Bertha  of  his  demands.  "Charles 
despised  me  when  he  met  me  in  Denver,"  he  explained 
to  Williams.  "  I  was  busted  at  the  time,  ye  mind."  He 
winked.  "And  now  when  he  reads  in  the  papers  that 
Mart  Haney  is  rich,  he  comes  down  on  me  like  a  hawk 
on  a  June  bug.  'Tis  no  matter.  He  may  come — I'll 
not  cast  him  out.  But  he  does  not  play  with  me 
double-eagles — not  he!" 

Charles  Haney  was  not  fitted  to  raise  his  brother's 
wife  in  the  social  scale,  for  he  belonged  to  that  marked, 
insistent  variety  of  actor  to  be  distinguished  on  trains 
and  in  the  lobbies  of  hotels — a  fat,  sleek,  loud-voiced 
comedian,  who  enacted  scenes  from  his  unwritten  plays 
while  ladling  his  soup,  and  who  staggered  and  fell  across 
chairs  in  illustration  of  highly  emotional  lines  and, 

59 


MONEY    MAGIC 

what  was  worse,  he  was  of  those  who  regard  every  un 
escorted  woman  as  fair  game.  Bold  of  glance  and 
brassy  of  smile,  he  began  to  make  eyes  at  his  sister-in- 
law  from  their  first  meeting. 

She  amazed  him.  He  had  expected  a  woman  of  his 
own  class — an  adventuress,  painted,  designing;  and  to 
find  this  sweet  little  girl — "why,  she's  too  good  for 
Mart,"  he  concluded,  and  shifted  his  hollow  pretensions 
of  sympathy  from  his  brother  to  his  sister-in-law. 
Before  the  first  evening  of  his  visit  closed  he  sought 
opportunity  to  tell  her,  in  hypocritic  sadness,  that  Mart 
was  a  doomed  man,  and  that  she  would  soon  be  free 
of  him.  Bertha  was  disturbed  by  his  gaze  and  repelled 
by  his  touch,  but  tried  to  like  him  on  Mart's  account. 
His  mouthing  disgusted  her,  and  the  good-will  with 
which  Haney  greeted  his  brother  turned  into  bitterness 
as  the  boaster  and  low  wit  began  to  display  himself. 

"We  all  grew  up  in  the  street  or  in  the  saloon," 
Haney  sadly  remarked,  "and  you  finished  your  educa 
tion  in  the  variety  theatre,  I'm  thinking." 

The  actor  took  this  as  a  joke,  and  with  a  grin  re 
torted:  "That's  better  than  running  a  faro-layout." 

"I  dunno;  a  good  quiet  game  has  its  power  to 
educate  a  man,"  replied  the  gambler. 

That  night,  as  she  was  preparing  the  Captain  for 
bed,  he  remarked,  with  a  sigh:  "Life  is  a  quare  game! 
I  mind  Charley  well  as  a  cute  little  yellow-haired  divil, 
always  laughing,  always  in  mischief,  and  me  chasin' 
after  him — a  big  slob  of  a  boy.  I  used  to  carry  him  up 
an'  down  the  tenement  stairs.  I  learned  him  to  skate 
—and  now  here  he  is  drinkin'  himself  puffy,  whilst 
I  am  an  old  broken-down  hack  at  forty-five."  He 
looked  up  at  her  with  a  sheen  of  tears  in  his  eyes. 
"Darlin',  'tis  a  shame  to  be  leanin'  on  you." 

60 


MONEY    MAGIC 

She  put  her  arm  around  his  big  grizzled  head  and 
drew  it  to  her. 

"You  can  lean  hard,  Mart.     I'm  standin'  by." 

"No,  I'll  not  lean  too  hard,"  he  answered.  "I  don't 
want  your  fine,  straight  back  to  stoop.  I  make  no 
demands.  I'll  not  spoil  your  young  life.  I'm  not 
worth  it.  You're  free  to  go  when  you  can't  stand  me 
any  longer." 

"Now,  now,  no  more  of  that!"  she  warned.  "When 
I  have  cause  to  knock,  you  won't  need  no  ear-trumpet. 
Put  up  your  hoof."  He  obeyed,  and,  stooping  swiftly, 
she  began  to  unlace  the  shoe  which  he  could  no  longer 
reach.  Her  manner  was  that  of  a  daughter  who 
tyrannizes  over  an  indulgent  father.  Her  admiration  and 
gratitude,  so  boyish  once,  were  now  replaced  by  an 
affection  in  which  the  element  of  sex  had  small  place, 
and  his  love  for  her  sprang  also  from  a  source  far  re 
moved  from  the  fierce  instinct  which  first  led  him  to 
seek  her  subduing. 


CHAPTER  VII 

BERTHA  REPULSES  AN  ENEMY 

CHARLES  HANEY  had  no  scruples.  From  the 
\^4  moment  of  his  first  meeting  with  his  brother's 
young  wife  he  determined  to  make  himself  "solid" 
with  her.  Convinced  that  Mart  was  not  long  for  this 
world,  he  set  to  work  to  win  Bertha's  favor,  for  this  was 
the  only  way  to  harvest  the  golden  fortune  she  con 
trolled. 

"Mart  is  just  fool  enough  and  contrary  enough  to 
leave  every  cent  of  his  money  to  her."  Here  he  placed 
one  finger  against  his  brow.  "Carlos,  here  is  where  you 
get  busy.  It's  us  to  the  haberdasher.  We  shine." 

Notwithstanding  all  his  boasting,  he  was  not  only  an 
actor  out  of  an  engagement,  but  flat  broke,  badly 
dressed,  and  in  sorry  disrepute  with  managers.  "I've 
been  playing  in  a  stock  company  in  San  Francisco," 
he  had  explained,  "and  I'm  now  on  my  way  to  New 
York  to  produce  a  play  of  my  own.  Hence  these  tears. 
I  need  an  'angel.' ' 

He  distinctly  said  "the  first  of  the  month  "in  this 
announcement,  but  as  the  days  went  by  he  only  settled 
deeper  into  the  snug  corners  of  the  Haney  home, 
making  no  further  mention  of  his  triumphal  eastward 
progress.  On  the  contrary,  he  had  the  air  of  a  regular 
boarder,  and  turned  up  promptly  for  meals,  rotund  and 
glowing  in  the  opulence  of  his  brother's  hospitality. 

62 


MONEY    MAGIC 

On  the  strength  of  his  name  he  found  favor  with  the 
tailors,  and  bourgeoned  forth  a  few  days  later  in  the 
best  cloth  the  shops  afforded,  and  strutted  and  plumed 
himself  like  a  turkey-cock  before  Bertha,  keeping  up 
meanwhile  a  pretension  of  sympathy  and  good-fellow 
ship  with  Mart. 

In  this  he  miscalculated;  for  Bertha,  youthful  as  she 
seemed,  was  accustomed,  as  she  would  say,  to  "stand 
ing  off  mashers,"  and  her  impassive  face  and  keen, 
steady  eyes  fairly  disconcerted  the  libertine.  "For 
Mart's  sake,  we'll  put  up  with  him,"  she  said  to  her 
mother.  "He's  a  loafer;  but  I  can  see  the  Captain 
kind  o'  likes  to  have  him  around — for  old  times'  sake, 
I  reckon." 

This  was  true.  When  alone  with  his  brother, 
Charles  dropped  his  egotistic  brag  and  dramatic  bluster, 
and  touched  craftily  upon  the  dare-devil,  boyish  life 
they  had  led  together.  He  was  shrewd  enough  to  see 
and  understand  that  this  was  his  most  ingratiating 
role,  and  he  played  it  "to  the  limit,"  as  Bertha  would 
have  said. 

And  yet  no  one  in  the  house  realized  how  his  pres 
ence  reacted  against  Bertha. 

"What  are  we  to  think  of  a  girl  so  obtuse  that  she 
permits  a  man  like  this  fat,  disgusting  actor  to  dangle 
about  her?"  asked  Mrs.  Crego  of  her  husband,  who  was 
Haney's  legal  adviser. 

"He's  her  husband's  brother,  you  know,"  argued 
Crego. 

"All  the  same,  I  can't  understand  her.  She  looks 
nice  and  sweet,  and  you  say  she  is  so;  and  yet  here  she 
is  married  to  a  notorious  gambler,  and  associating  with 
mountebanks  and  all  sorts  of  malodorous  people.  Why, 
I've  seen  her  riding  down  the  street  with  the  up- 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

holsterer,  and  Mrs.  Congdon  told  me  that  she  saw  her 
stop  her  carriage  in  front  of  a  cigar  store  and  talk  with 
a  barber  in  a  white  jacket  for  at  least  ten  minutes." 

Crego  laughed.  "What  infamy!  However,  I  can't 
believe  Aeven  the  upholsterer  will  finally  corrupt  her. 
The  fact  is,  my  dear,  we're  all  getting  to  be  what  some 
of  my  clients  call  'too  a-ristocratic.'  Bertha  Haney  is 
sprung  from  good  average  American  stock,  and  has 
associated  with  the  kind  of  people  you  abhor  all  her 
life.  She  hasn't  begun  to  draw  any  of  your  artificial 
distinctions.  I  hope  she  never  will.  Her  barber 
friend  is  on  the  same  level  with  the  clerks  and  grocery- 
men  of  the  town.  They're  all  human,  you  know. 
She's  the  true  democrat.  I  confess  I  like  the  girl. 
Her  ability  is  astonishing.  Williams  and  Haney  both 
take  her  opinion  quite  as  weightily  as  my  own." 

Mrs.  Crego  was  impressed.  "Well,  I'll  call  on  her 
if  you  really  think  I  ought  to  do  so." 

"I  don't.  I  withdraw  my  suggestion.  I  deprecate 
your  calling — in  that  spirit.  I  doubt  if  she  expects  you 
to  call.  I  hardly  think  she  has  awakened  to  any  slights 
put  upon  her  by  your  set.  Indeed,  she  seems  quite 
happy  in  the  society  of  Thomas,  Richard,  and  Harry." 

"Don't  be  brutal,  Allen." 

"I'm  not.  The  girl  is  now  serene — that's  the  main 
thing;  and  you  might  raise  up  doubts  and  discontents 
in  her  mind." 

"I  certainly  shall  not  go  near  her  so  long  as  that 
odious  actor  is  hanging  about.  His  smirk  at  me  the 
other  day  made  me  ill." 

This  conversation  was  typical  of  many  others  in 
homes  of  equal  culture,  for  Bertha's  position  as  well 
as  her  face  and  manner  piqued  curiosity.  After  all,  the 
town  was  a  small  place — just  large  enough  to  give 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

gossip  room  to  play  in — and  the  sheen  of  Mrs.  Haney's 
wealth  made  her  conspicuous  from  afar,  while  her 
youth  and  boyish  beauty  had  been  the  subject  of  ad 
miring  club  talk  from  the  very  first.  Haney  was  only 
an  old  and  wounded  animal,  whose  mate  was  free  to 
choose  anew. 

"It  makes  me  ache  to  see  the  girl  go  wrong,"  said 
Mrs.  Frank  Congdon,  wife  of  a  resident  portrait-painter, 
also  in  delicate  health  (she  was  speaking  to  Mrs. 
Crego).  "Think  of  that  great  house — Frank  says  she 
runs  it  admirably — filled  with  tinkers  and  tailors  and 
candlestick -makers,  not  to  mention  touts  and  gam 
blers — when  she  might  be  entertaining — well,  us,  for 
example!"  She  laughed  at  the  unbending  face  of  her 
friend;  then  went  on:  "Dr.  Cronk  says  the  mother  is  a 
vSweet  old  lady  and  of  good  New  England  family — a 
constitutional  Methodist,  he  calls  her.  I  wish  she  kept 
better  company." 

"But  what  can  you  expect  of  a  girl  brought  up  in  a 
pigsty.  Her  mother  was  mistress  of  a  little  miners' 
hotel  in  Junction  City,  Allen  says,  and  the  girl  boasts  of 
it." 

Mrs.  Congdon  smiled.  "I'm  dying  to  talk  with  her. 
She's  far  and  away  the  most  interesting  of  our  newly 
rich,  and  I  like  her  face.  Frank  has  called,  you  know  ?" 

"Has  he?" 

"On  business,  of  course.  She  has  decided  to  have 
him  paint  her  husband's  picture.  She's  taken  her  first 
step  upward,  you  see." 

"I  should  think  she'd  be  content  to  have  her  saloon 
keeper  husband's  face  fade  out  of  her  memory." 

"Frank  is  enthusiastic.  I'm  not  a  bit  sure  that  he 
didn't  suggest  the  portrait.  He  is  shameless  when  he 
takes  a  fancy  to  a  face.  He's  wild  to  paint  them  both 

65 


MONEY    MAGIC 

and  call  it  'The  Lion  Tamer  and  the  Lion.'  He  con 
siders  Haney  a  great  character.  It  seems  he  saw  him 
in  Cripple  Creek  once,  and  was  vastly  taken  by  his  pose. 
His  being  old  and  sad  now — his  face  is  one  of  the  sad 
dest  I  ever  saw — makes  it  all  the  more  interesting  to 
Frank.  So  I'm  going  to  call — in  fact,  we're  going  to 
lunch  there  soon." 

"Oh,  well,  yes.  You  artists  can  do  anything,  and  it's 
all  right.  You  must  come  over  immediately  afterwards 
and  tell  me  all  about  it,  won't  you?" 

At  this  Mrs.  Congdon  laughed,  but,  being  of  generous 
mind,  consented. 

Crego  was  right.  Bertha  had  not  yet  begun  to 
take  on  trouble  about  her  social  position.  She  had 
carried  to  her  big  house  in  the  Springs  all  the  ideas  and 
usages  of  Sibley  Junction — that  was  all.  She  acknowl 
edged  her  obligations  as  a  householder,  carrying  forward 
the  New  England  democratic  traditions.  To  be  next 
door  made  any  one  a  neighbor,  with  the  right  to  run  in 
to  inspect  your  house  and  furniture  and  to  give  advice. 
The  fact  that  near -at -hand  residents  did  not  avail 
themselves  of  this  privilege  troubled  her  very  little  at 
first,  so  busy  was  she  with  her  own  affairs;  but  it  was 
inevitable  that  the  talk  of  her  mother's  church  as 
sociates  should  sooner  or  later  open  her  eyes  to  the  truth 
that  the  distinctions  which  she  had  read  about  as 
existing  in  New  York  and  Chicago  were  present  in  her 
own  little  city.  "Mrs.  Crego  and  her  set  are  too  stuck 
up  to  associate  with  common  folks,"  was  the  form  in 
which  the  revelation  came  to  her. 

From  one  loose-tongued  sister  she  learned,  also, 
that  she  and  the  Captain  were  subjects  of  earnest 
prayer  in  the  sewing-circle,  and  that  her  husband's 
Catholicism  was  a  source  of  deep  anxiety,  not  to  say 

66 


MONEY    MAGIC 

proselyting  hostility,  on  the  part  of  the  pastor  and  his 
wife,  while  from  another  of  these  officious  souls  she 
learned  that'  the  Springs,  beautiful  as  it  was,  so  sunlit, 
so  pure  of  air,  was  a  centre  of  marital  infelicity,  wherein 
the  devil  reigned  supreme. 

Her  mother's  pastor  called,  and  was  very  outspoken 
as  to  Mart  and  Charles — both  of  whom  needed  the 
Lord's  grace  badly.  He  expressed  great  concern  for 
Bertha's  spiritual  welfare,  and  openly  prayed  for  her 
husband,  whose  nominal  submission  to  the  Catholic 
Church  seemed  not  merely  blindness  to  his  own  sin, 
but  a  danger  to  the  young  wife. 

Haney,  however,  though  wounded  and  suffering, 
was  still  a  lion  in  resolution,  and  his  glance  checked  the 
exhortation  which  the  minister  one  day  nerved  himself 
to  utter.  "I  do  not  interfere  with  any  man's  faith," 
said  he,  "and  I  do  not  intend  to  be  put  to  school  by  you 
nor  any  other  livin'.  I  was  raised  a  Catholic,  and  for 
the  sake  of  me  mother  I  call  meself  wan  to  this  day, 
and  as  I  am  so  I  shall  die."  And  the  finality  of  his 
voice  won  him  freedom  from  further  molestation. 

Bertha's  concern  for  her  creed  was  hardly  more 
poignant  than  Haney 's,  and  they  never  argued;  but 
she  did  begin  to  give  puzzled  thought  to  the  social 
complications  which  opened  out  day  by  day  before  her. 
Charles,  embittered  by  his  failures,  enlightened  her 
still  more  profoundly.  He  had  a  certain  shrewdness 
of  comment  at  times  which  bit.  "Wouldn't  it  jar 
you,"  said  he  one  day,  "to  see  this  little  town  sporting 
a  'Smart  Set'  and  quoting  Town  Topics  like  a  Bible? 
Why,  some  of  these  dinky  little  two-spot  four-flushers 
draw  the  line  on  me  because  I'm  an  actor!  What  d'ye 
think  o'  that?  I  don't  mind  your  Methodist  sistern 
walking  wide  of  me,  but  it's  another  punch  when  these 

67 


MONEY    MAGIC 

dubs  who  are  smoking  my  cigars  at  the  club  fail  to 
invite  me  to  their  houses." 

Bertha  looked  at  him  reflectively  throughout  this 
speech,  putting  a  different  interpretation  on  the  neglect 
he  complained  of.  She  had  gone  beyond  disliking  him, 
she  despised  him  (for  he  was  growing  bolder  each  day 
in  his  addresses),  and  took  every  precaution  that  he 
should  not  be  alone  with  her ;  and  she  rose  one  morning 
with  the  determination  to  tell  Mart  that  she  would  not 
endure  his  brother's  presence  another  day.  But  his 
pleasure  in  Charles'  company  was  too  genuine  to  be  dis 
turbed,  and  so  she  endured. 

The  actor's  talk  was  largely  concerned  with  the 
scandal-mongery  of  the  town,  and  very  soon  the  young 
wife  knew  that  Mrs.  May,  whose  husband  was  "in  the 
last  stages,"  was  in  love  with  young  Mr.  June,  and  that 
Mr.  Frost,  whose  wife  was  "weakly,"  was  going  about 
shamelessly  with  Miss  Bloom,  and  all  this  comment 
came  to  her  ears  freighted  with  its  worst  significance. 
Vile  suggestion  dripped  from  Charles  Haney's  reckless 
tongue. 

This  was  deep-laid  policy  with  him.  His  purpose 
was  to  undermine  her  loyalty  as  a  wife.  His  approach 
es  had  no  charm,  no  finesse.  Presuming  on  his  re 
lationship,  he  caught  at  her  hand  as  she  passed,  or  took 
a  seat  beside  her  if  he  found  her  alone  on  a  sofa.  At 
such  moments  she  was  furious  with  him,  and  once  she 
struck  his  hand  away  with  such  violence  that  she  suf 
fered  acute  pain  for  several  hours  afterwards. 

His  attentions — which  were  almost  assaults — came 
at  last  to  destroy  a  large  part  of  her  joy  in  her  new 
home.  Her  drives,  when  he  sat  beside  her,  were  a 
torture,  and  yet  she  could  not  bring  herself  to  accuse 
him  before  the  crippled  man,  who  really  suffered  from 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

loneliness  whenever  she  was  out  of  the  house  or  busy 
in  her  household  work.  He  had  never  been  given  to 
reading,  and  was  therefore  pathetically  dependent  upon 
conversation  for  news  and  amusement.  He  was  much 
at  home,  too,  for  his  maiming  was  still  so  fresh  upon 
him  that  he  shrank  from  exhibiting  himself  on  the 
street  or  at  the  clubs  (there  are  no  saloons  in  the 
Springs).  Crego,  whom  he  liked  exceedingly,  was  very 
busy,  and  Williams  was  away  at  the  mines  for  the  most 
part,  and  so,  in  spite  of  Bertha's  care,  he  often  sat  alone 
on  the  porch,  a  pitiful  shadow  of  the  man  who  paid 
court  to  the  clerk  of  the  Golden  Eagle. 

Sometimes  he  followed  the  women  around  the  house 
like  a  dog,  watching  them  at  their  dusting  and  polish 
ing.  "You'll  strain  yourself,  Captain,"  Bertha  warn- 
ingly  cried  out  whenever  he  laid  hold  of  a  chair  or 
brush.  And  so  each  time  he  went  back  to  his  library  to 
smoke,  and  wait  until  his  wife's  duties  were  ended. 
At  such  hours  his  brother  was  a  comfort.  He  was  not 
a  fastidious  man,  even  with  the  refinement  which  had 
come  from  his  sickness  and  his  marriage,  and  the  actor 
(so  long  as  he  cast  no  imputations  on  any  friend)  could 
talk  as  freely  as  he  pleased. 

Slowly,  day  by  day,  Charles  regained  Mart's  inter 
est  and  a  measure  of  his  confidence.  Having  learned 
what  to  avoid  and  what  to  emphasize,  he  now  deplored 
the  drink  habits  of  his  brothers,  and  gently  suggested 
that  the  old  father  needed  help.  They  played  cards 
occasionally  during  such  times  as  household  cares 
drew  Bertha  away,  and  held  much  discussion  of  mines 
and  mining — though  here  Mart  was  singularly  reticent, 
and  afforded  little  information  about  his  own  affairs. 
His  trust  in  Charles  did  not  go  so  far  as  that.  With 
Crego,  however,  he  freely  discussed  his  condition,  for  the 


MONEY    MAGIC 

lawyer  had  written  his  new  will,  and  was  in  posses 
sion  of  it. 

"I'm  like  a  battered  old  tin  can,"  he  said  once.  "Did 
ye  ever  try  to  put  a  tin  can  back  into  shape  ?  Ye  can 
not.  If  ye  push  it  back  here,  it  bulges  there.  The 
doctors  are  tryin'  hard  to  take  the  kinks  out  o'  me,  but 
'tis  impossible — I  see  that — but  I  may  live  on  for  a 
long  time.  Already  me  mind  misgives  me  about 
Bertie — she's  too  young  to  be  tied  up  to  a  shoulder- 
shotten  old  plug  like  mesilf." 

To  this  Crego  soothingly  responded.  "I  don't  think 
you  need  to  worry.  She's  as  happy  as  a  blackbird  in 
spring." 

Once  he  said  to  Bertha:  "I  niver  intended  to  limp 
around  like  this.  I  niver  thought  to  be  the  skate  I 
am  this  day,"  and  his  despondency  darkened  his  face 
as  he  spoke.  "I  could  not  blame  you  if  you  threw 
me  out.  I'm  only  a  big  nuisance." 

"You  will  be  if  you  talk  like  that,"  she  briskly  an 
swered,  and  that  is  all  she  seemed  to  make  of  his  pro 
test.  She  had  indeed  been  reared  in  an  atmosphere  of 
loyalty  to  marriage  as  well  as  of  chastity,  and  she  never 
for  a  moment  considered  her  vows  weakened  by  her 
husband's  broken  frame. 

This  fidelity  Charles  discovered  to  his  own  con 
fusion  one  night  as  he  came  home  inflamed  by  liquor 
and  reckless  of  hand,  to  find  her  sitting  alone  in  the 
library  writing  a  letter.  It  was  not  late,  but  Mart, 
feeling  tired,  had  gone  to  bed,  and  Mrs.  Oilman  was  in 
Sibley. 

Bertha  looked  up  as  he  entered,  and  without  ob 
serving  that  he  was  drunk,  went  on  with  her  writing, 
which  was  ever  a  painful  ceremony  with  her.  Drop 
ping  his  coat  where  he  stood,  and  with  his  hat  awry  on 

70 


MONEY    MAGIC 

the  red  globe  of  his  head,  the  dastard  staggered  towards 
her,  his  eyes  lit  with  a  glare  of  reckless  desire. 

"Say,"  he  began,  ''this  is  luck.  I  want  'o  talk  with 
you,  Bertie.  I  want  'o  find  out  why  you  run  away  from 
me?  What's  the  matter  with  me,  anyhow?" 

She  realized  now  the  foul,  satyr-like  mood  of  the 
man,  and  sprang  up  tense  and  strong,  silently  con 
fronting  him. 

He  mumbled  with  a  grin:  "You're  a  peach!  What's 
the  matter?  Why  don't  you  like  me?  Ain't  I  all 
right?  I'm  a  gentleman." 

His  words  were  babble,  but  the  look  in  his  eyes,  the 
loose  slaver  of  his  lips,  both  scared  and  angered  her,  and 
as  he  pushed  against  her,  clumsily  trying  to  hook  his 
arm  about  her  waist,  she  struck  him  sharply  with  the 
full  weight  of  her  arm  and  shoulder,  and  he  tottered 
and  fell  sprawling.  With  a  curse  in  his  teeth  he  caught 
at  a  chair,  recovered  his  balance,  and  faced  her  with  a 
look  of  fury  that  would  have  appalled  one  less  expe 
rienced  than  she. 

"You  little  fool,"  he  snarled,  "don't  you  do  that 
again!" 

"Stop!"  She  did  not  lift  her  voice,  but  the  word 
arrested  him.  "Do  you  want  to  die?"  The  word  die 
pierced  the  mist  of  his  madness.  "What  do  you  think 
Mart  will  say  to  this?" 

He  shivered  and  grew  pale  under  the  force  of  his 
brother's  name  uttered  in  that  tone.  He  began  to 
melt,  subsiding  into  a  jelly-mass  of  fear. 

"Don't  tell  Mart,  for  Christ's  sake!  I  didn't  mean 
nothing.  Don't  do  it,  I  beg — I  beg!" 

She  looked  at  him  and  seemed  to  grow  in  years  as  she 
searched  his  wretched  body  for  its  soul.  "If  you  don't 
pull  out  of  this  house  to-morrow  I'll  let  him  know  just 

6  71 


MONEY    MAGIC 

the  kind  of  dead-head  boarder  you  are.  You  haven't 
fooled  me  any — not  for  a  minute.  I've  put  up  with 
you  for  his  sake,  but  to-night  settles  it.  You  go! 
I've  stood  a  lot  from  you,  but  your  meal -ticket  is  no 
good  after  to-morrow  morning — you  sabe?  It's  you 
to  the  outside  to-morrow.  Now  get  out,  or  I  call  Mart." 

He  turned  and  shuffled  from  the  room,  leaving  his 
battered  hat  at  her  feet. 

She  waited  till  she  heard  him  close  his  door;  then, 
with  a  look  of  disgust  on  her  face,  picked  up  his  hat  and 
coat,  and  hung  them  on  the  rack  in  the  hall.  "I'm 
sorry  for  Mart,"  she  said  to  herself.  "He  was  com 
pany  for  him,  but  I  can't  stand  the  loafer  a  day 
longer.  I  hope  I  never  see  him  again." 

He  did  not  get  down  to  breakfast,  and  for  this  she  was 
glad;  but  he  sought  opportunity  a  little  later  to  plead 
for  clemency.  "Give  me  another  chance.  I  was  drunk. 
I  didn't  mean  it." 

She  remained  inexorable.  "Not  for  a  second,"  she 
succinctly  replied.  "I  don't  care  how  you  fix  it  with 
Mart.  Smooth  it  up  as  best  you  can,  but  fly  this 
coop."  And  her  face  expressed  such  contempt  that 
he  crept  away,  flabby  and  faltering,  to  his  brother. 

"I've  been  telegraphed  for,  and  must  go,"  he  said. 
"And,  by  the  way,  I  need  a  little  ready  mon  to  carry 
me  to  the  little  old  town.  As  soon  as  I  get  to  work 
I'll  send  you  a  check." 

Mart  handed  him  the  money  in  silence,  and  waited 
till  he  had  folded  and  put  away  the  bills.  Then  he 
said:  "Charles,  you  was  always  the  smart  one  of  the 
family,  and  ye'd  be  all  right  now  if  ye'd  pass  the  booze 
and  get  down  to  hard  work.  It's  time  ye  were  off,  for 
ye've  done  nothin'  but  loaf  and  drink  here.  I've  en- 

72 


MONEY    MAGIC 

joyed  your  talk — part  of  the  time;  but  I  can  see  ye'd 
grow  onto  me  here  like  a  wart,  and  that's  bad  for  you 
and  bad  for  me,  and  so  I'm  glad  ye're  going." 

"Can't  you — "  He  was  going  to  ask  for  a  position — 
something  easy  with  big  pay — when  he  saw  that  such 
a  request  would  make  his  telegram  a  lie. 

As  he  hesitated  Mart  continued:  "No,  I'll  back  no 
play  for  ye.  I'm  a  gambler,  but  I  take  no  chances  of 
that  kind.  If  you  see  the  old  father,  write  and  tell  me 
how  he  is." 

Charles,  though  filled  with  rising  fury,  was  sober 
enough  to  know  in  what  danger  he  stood,  and  forcing 
a  smile  to  his  face,  shook  hands  and  went  out  to  his 
carriage — alone. 

As  Mart  met  Bertha  a  few  minutes  later  he  remarked, 
with  calm  directness:  "There  goes  a  cheap  rounder 
and  a  sponge.  I've  been  a  gambler  and  a  saloon-keeper, 
but  I  never  got  the  notion  that  I  could  live  without 
doin'  something.  Charles  was  a  smart  lad,  but  the 
divil  has  him  by  the  neck,  and  to  give  money  is  to  give 
him  drink." 

Bertha  remained  silent,  her  own  indictment  was  so 
much  more  severe. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

BERTHA    RECEIVES    AN    INVITATION 


SPRINGS  lies  in  a  shallow  valley, 
under  a  genial  sun,  at  almost  the  exact  level  of  the 
summit  of  Mt.  Washington.  From  the  railway  train, 
as  it  crawls  over  the  hills  to  the  east,  it  looks  like  a 
toy  village,  but  is,  in  fact,  a  busy  little  city.  To  ride 
along  its  wide  and  leafy  streets  in  summer,  to  breathe 
its  crystalline  airs  in  winter,  is  to  lose  belief  in  the 
necessity  of  disease.  The  grave  seems  afar  off. 

And  yet  it  was  built,  and  is  now  supported,  by  those 
who,  fearing  death,  fled  the  lower,  miasmatic  levels  of 
the  world,  and  who,  having  abandoned  all  hope  (or 
desire)  of  return,  are  loyally  developing  and  adorning 
their  adopted  home.  These  fugitives  are  for  the  most 
part  contented  exiles  —  men  as  well  as  women  —  who 
have  come  to  enjoy  their  enforced  stay  here  beside  the 
peaks  ;  and  their  devotion  to  the  town  and  its  surround 
ings  is  unmistakably  sincere,  for  they  believe  that  the 
climate  and  the  water  have  prolonged  their  lives. 

Not  all  even  of  these  seekers  for  health  are  ill,  or  even 
weakly,  at  present  ;  on  the  contrary,  many  of  them  are 
stalwart  hands  at  golf,  and  others  are  seasoned  horse 
men.  In  addition  to  those  who  are  resident  in  their 
own  behalf  are  many  husbands  attendant  upon  ailing 
wives,  and  blooming  wives  called  to  the  care  of  wea 
zened  and  querulous  husbands,  and  parents  who  came 

74 


MONEY    MAGIC 

bringing  a  son  or  daughter  on  whom  the  pale  shadow 
of  the  White  Death  had  fallen.  But,  after  all,  these 
Easterners  color  but  they  do  not  dominate  the  life 
of  the  town,  which  is  a  market-place  for  a  wide  region, 
and  a  place  of  comfort  for  well-to-do  miners.  It  is, 
also,  a  Western  town,  with  all  a  Western  town's  cus 
tomary  activities,  and  the  traveller  would  hardly  know 
it  for  a  health  resort,  so  cheerful  and  lively  is  the  aspect 
of  its  streets,  where  everything  denotes  comfort  and 
content. 

In  addition  to  the  elements  denoted  above,  it  is  also 
taken  to  be  a  desirable  social  centre  and  a  charming- 
place  of  residence  for  men  like  Marshall  Haney,  who, 
having  made  their  pile  in  the  mountain  camps,  have  a 
reasonable  desire  to  put  their  gold  in  evidence — ' '  to  get 
some  good  of  their  dust,"  as  Williams  might  say.  Here 
and  there  along  the  principal  avenues  are  luxurious 
homes — absurdly  pretentious  in  some  instances — which 
are  pointed  out  to  visitors  as  the  residences  of  the  big 
miners.  They  are  especially  given  to  good  horses  also, 
and  ride  or  drive  industriously,  mixing  very  little  with 
the  more  cultured  and  sophisticated  of  their  neighbors, 
for  whom  they  furnish  a  never-ending  comedy  of 
manners.  "A  beautiful  mixture  for  a  novelist," 
Congdon  often  said. 

Yes,  the  town  has  its  restricted  "Smart  Set,"  in 
imitation  of  New  York  city,  and  its  literary  and  ar 
tistic  groups  (small,  of  course),  and  its  staid  circle  of 
wealth  and  privilege,  and  within  denned  limits  and  at 
certain  formal  civic  functions  these  various  elements 
meet  and  interfuse  genially  if  not  sincerely.  However, 
the  bitter  fact  remains  that  the  microcosm  is  already 
divided  into  classes  and  masses  in  a  way  which  would 
be  humorous  if  it  were  not  so  deeply  significant  of  a 

75 


MONEY    MAGIC 

deplorable  change  in  American  life.  Squire  Crego, 
in  discussing  this  very  matter  with  Frank  Congdon, 
the  portrait  -  painter,  put  it  thus:  "This  division  of 
interest  is  inevitable.  What  can  you  do  ?  The  wife 
of  the  man  who  cobbles  my  shoes  or  the  d  Tighter  of 
the  grocer  who  supplies  my  sugar  is,  in  the  eyes  of  God, 
undoubtedly  of  the  same  value  as  my  own  wife,  but 
they  don't  interest  me.  As  a  social  democrat,  I  may 
wish  sincerely  to  do  them  good,  but,  confound  it,  to 
wish  to  do  them  good  is  an  impertinence.  And  when 
I've  tried  to  bring  these  elements  together  in  my  house 
I  have  always  failed.  Mrs.  Crego,  while  being  most 
gracious  and  cordial,  has,  nevertheless,  managed  to 
make  the  upholsterer  chilly,  and  to  freeze  the  grocer's 
wife  entirely  out  of  the  picture." 

"There's  one  comfort:  it  isn't  a  matter  of  money. 
If  it  were,  where  would  the  Congdons  be?" 

"No,  it  isn't  really  a  matter  of  money,  and  in  a  cer 
tain  sense  it  isn't  a  matter  of  brains.  It's  a  question 
of—" 

"Savoir  faire." 

"Precisely.  You  haven't  a  cent,  so  you  say  fre 
quently —  Congdon  stopped  him,  gravely. 

"I  owe  you  fifty — I  was  just  going  down  into  my 
jeans  to  pay  it,  when  I  suddenly  recalled — " 

"Don't  interrupt  the  court.  You  haven't  a  cent, 
we'll  say,  but  you  go  everywhere  and  are  welcome. 
Why?" 

"That's  just  it.  Why  ?  If  you  really  want  to  know, 
I'll  tell  you.  It's  all  on  account  of  Lee.  Lee  is  a 
mighty  smart  girl.  She  has  a  cinch  on  the  gray  matter 
of  this  family." 

"You  do  yourself  an  injustice." 

"Thank  you." 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

Crego  pursued  his  argument.  "There  isn't  any  place 
that  a  man  of  your  type  can't  go  if  you  want  to, 
because  you  take  something  with  you.  You  mix. 
And  Haney,  for  example — to  return  to  the  concrete 
again — Haney  would  make  a  most  interesting  guest  at 
one's  dinner-table,  but  the  wife,  clever  as  she  is,  is  im 
possible — or,  at  least,  Mrs.  Crego  thinks  she  is." 

Congdon  fixed  a  finger  pistol-wise  and  impressively 
said:  "That  little  Mrs.  Haney  is  a  wonder.  Don't  make 
any  mistake  about  her.  She'll  climb." 

"I'm  not  making  the  mistake,  it's  Mrs.  Crego.  I've 
asked  her  to  call  on  the  girl,  but  she  evades  the  issue 
by  asking:  'What's  the  use?  Her  interests  are  not 
ours,  and  I  don't  intend  to  cultivate  her  as  a  freak.' 
So  there  we  stand." 

Congdon  looked  thoughtful.  "She  may  be  right, 
but  I  don't  think  so.  The  girl  interests  me,  because  I 
think  I  see  in  her  great  possibilities." 

"Her  abilities  certainly  are  remarkable.  She  needs 
but  one  statement  of  a  point  in  law.  She  seems  never 
to  forget  a  word  I  say.  Sometimes  this  realization  is 
embarrassing.  When  she  fixes  those  big  wistful  eyes 
on  me  I  feel  bound  to  give  her  my  choicest  diction  and 
my  soundest  judgments.  Haney,  too,  for  all  his  wild 
career,  attaches  my  sympathy.  You're  painting  his 
portrait — why  don't  you  and  Lee  give  them  a  dinner?" 
Good  thought !  I  told  Lee  this  morning  that  it  was 
a  shame  to  draw  the  line  on  that  little  girl  just  because 
that  rotten,  bad  brother-in-law  of  hers  was  base  enough 
to  slur  her  at  the  club.  But,  as  you  say,  women  can't 
be  driv.  However,  I  think  Lee  can  manage  a  dinner 
if  anybody  can.  As  you  say,  we're  only  artists,  and 
artists  can  do  anything — except  borrow  money. 
However,  if  you  want  to  know,  Lee  says  that  this 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

barber  lover  of  Mrs.  Haney's  has  done  more  to  queer 
her  with  our  set  than  anything  else.  They  think  her 
tastes  are  low." 

"That  incident  is  easily  explained.  Winchell  knew 
her  in  Sibley,  and  though  he  has  undoubtedly  followed 
her  over  here  for  love  of  her,  he  seems  a  decent  fellow, 
and  I  don't  believe  intends  any  harm.  I  will  admit 
her  stopping  outside  his  door  to  talk  with  him  was  un 
conventional,  but  I  can't  believe  that  she  was  aware  of 
any  impropriety  in  the  act.  Nevertheless,  that  did 
settle  the  matter  with  Helen.  'You  can  dine  with 
them  any  day  if  you  wish,'  she  says,  *  but — '  And  there 
the  argument  rests." 

"Of  course,  you  and  I  can  put  the  matter  on  a  basis 
of  trade  courtesy,"  said  Congdon;  "but  I  confess  they 
interest  me  enormously,  and  I  would  like  to  do  them 
some  little  favor  for  their  own  sakes.  Poor  Haney  will 
never  be  more  of  a  man  than  he  is  to-day,  and  that  little 
girl  is  going  to  earn  all  the  money  she  gets  before  she 
is  done  with  him." 

And  so  they  parted,  and  Congdon  went  home  to 
renew  the  discussion  with  his  wife.  "You  must  call. 
It's  only  the  decent  thing  to  do,  now  that  the  portrait 
is  nearly  done,"  he  said. 

"I  don't  mind  the  calling,  Frank,"  she  briskly  re 
plied,  "and  I  don't  much  mind  giving  a  little  dinner, 
but  I  don't  want  to  get  the  girl  on  my  mind.  She  has 
so  much  to  learn,  and  I  haven't  the  time  nor  energy 
to  teach  her." 

Congdon  waved  his  ringer.  "Don't  you  grow  pale 
over  that,"  said  he.  "That  girl's  no  fool — she's  capa 
ble  of  development.  She  will  amaze  you  yet." 

"Well,  consider  it  settled.  I'll  call  this  afternoon 
and  ask  her  to  dinner;  but  don't  expect  me  to  advise 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

her  and  follow  her  up.  Now,  who'll  we  ask  to  meet  her 
— the  Cregos?" 

"Yes,  I'd  thought  of  them." 

"Oh,  I  know  all  about  it.  You  needn't  stammer. 
You  and  Allen  are  getting  a  good  deal  out  of  the 
Haneys,  and  want  to  be  decent  in  return.  Well,  I  think 
well  of  you  for  it,  and  I'll  do  my  mite.  I'll  have  young 
Fordyce  in,  and  Alice;  being  Quakers  and  'plain  peo 
ple,'  they  won't  mind.  Ben  is  crazy  to  see  the  rough 
side  of  Western  life,  anyway.  Now  run  away,  little  boy, 
and  leave  the  whole  business  to  me." 

As  Crego  had  said,  the  Congdons  were  privileged 
characters  in  the  Springs.  They  were  at  once  haughty 
with  the  pride  of  esthetic  cleverness,  and  humble  with 
the  sense  of  their  unworthiness  in  the  wide  old-world  of 
art.  Lee  was  contemptuous  of  wealth  when  they  had  a 
pot  of  beans  in  the  house,  and  Frank  was  imperiously 
truculent  when  borrowing  ten  dollars  from  a  friend  or 
demanding  an  advance  of  cash  from  a  prospective 
patron.  They  both  came  of  long  lines  of  native 
American  ancestry,  and  not  only  felt  themselves  as  good 
as  anybody,  but  a  little  better  than  most.  They  gave 
wit  for  champagne,  art  instruction  for  automobile 
rides,  and  never-failing  good  humor  for  house-room  and 
the  blazing  fires  of  roomy  hearths. 

Mrs.  Congdon,  of  direct  Virginian  ancestry,  was  named 
Lee  by  a  state 's-rights  mother,  who  sent  her  abroad 
to  "study  art."  She  ended  by  pretending  to  be  a 
sculptor — and  she  still  did  occasionally  model  a  figurine 
of  her  friends  or  her  friends'  babies;  mainly,  she  was 
the  aider  and  abettor  of  her  husband,  a  really  clever 
portrait-painter,  whose  ill  health  had  driven  him  from 
New  York  to  Colorado,  and  who  was  making  a  precarious 
living  in  the  Springs — precarious  for  the  reason  that  on 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

bright  days  he  would  rather  play  golf  than  handle  a 
brush,  and  on  dark  days  he  couldn't  see  to  paint  (so  he 
said).  In  truth,  he  was  not  well,  and  his  slender  store 
of  strength  did  not  permit  him  to  do  as  he  would.  To 
cover  the  real  seriousness  of  his  case  he  loudly  admitted 
his  laziness  and  incompetency. 

Lee  was  a  devoted  wife,  and  when  she  realized  that  his 
interest  in  the  Haneys  was  deep  and  genuine  her  slight 
opposition  gave  way.  It  meant  a  couple  of  thousand 
dollars  to  Frank,  but  money  was  the  least  of  their 
troubles — credit  seemed  to  come  along  when  they  need 
ed  it  most,  and  each  of  them  had  become  "trustful  to 
the  point  of  idiocy,"  Mrs.  Crego  was  accustomed  to 
say.  Mrs.  Crego  really  took  charge  of  their  affairs, 
and  when  they  needed  food  helped  them  to  it. 

Starting  for  the  Haneys  on  the  street-car  that  very 
afternoon,  Lee  reached  the  gate  just  as  Bertie  was  help 
ing  Mart  into  his  carriage.  There  was  something  so 
genuine  and  so  touching  in  this  picture  of  the  slender 
young  wife  supporting  her  big  and  crippled  husband 
that  Mrs.  Congdon's  nerves  thrilled  and  her  face  soft 
ened.  Plainly  this  consideration  on  the  part  of  Mrs. 
Haney  was  habitual  and  ungrudging. 

Bertie,  as  she  faced  her  caller,  saw  only  a  pale  little 
woman  with  flashing  eyes  and  smiling  mouth,  whose 
dress  was  as  neat  as  a  man's  and  almost  as  plain 
(Lee  prided  herself  on  not  being  "artistic "  in  dress) ,  and 
so  waited  for  further  information. 

"How  do  you  do,  Mrs.  Haney?"  Lee  began.  "I'm 
Mrs.  Congdon." 

Bertha  threw  the  rug  over  Mart's  knees  before  turn 
ing  to  offer  her  hand.  "I'm  glad  to  meet  you,"  she 
responded,  with  gravity.  "I've  seen  you  on  the  street." 

Lee  couldn't  quite  make  out  whether  this  remark 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

was  intended  for  reproach  or  not,  but  she  went  on, 
quickly:  "I  was  just  about  to  call.  Indeed,  I  came  to 
ask  you  and  Mr.  Haney  to  dine  with  us  on  Thursday." 
She  nodded  and  smiled  at  Mart,  who  sat  with  im 
passive  countenance  listening  with  attention — his 
piercing  eyes  making  her  rather  uncomfortable.  "We 
dine  at  seven.  I  hope  you  can  come." 

Bertha  looked  up  at  her  husband.  "What  do  you 
say,  Captain?" 

"I  don't  see  any  objection,"  he  answered,  without 
warmth. 

Bertha  turned,  with  still  passive  countenance.  "All 
right,"  she  said,  "we'll  be  there.  Won't  you  jump  in 
and  take  a  ride  with  us?" 

Lee,  burning  with  mingled  flames  of  resentment  and 
humor,  replied:  "Thank  you,  I  have  another  call  to 
make — Thursday,  then,  at  seven  o'clock." 

"We'll  connect.  Much  obliged,"  replied  Bertha,  and 
sprang  into  the  carriage.  "Go  ahead,  Dan.  Good- 
day,  Mrs.  Congdon." 

Lee  stood  for  an  instant  in  amazement  at  this  easy, 
not  to  say  indifferent,  acceptance  of  her  tremendous 
offering.  "Well,  if  that  isn't  cool  !"  she  gasped,  and 
walked  on  thoughtfully. 

Humor  dominated  her  at  last,  and  when  she  entered 
Mrs.  Crego's  house  she  was  flushed  with  laughter,  and 
recounted  the  words  of  the  interview  with  so  many 
subtle  interpretations  of  her  own  that  Mrs.  Crego  was 
delighted. 

Mrs.  Congdon  did  not  spare  herself.  "Helen,  she 
made  me  feel  like  a  bill-collector  !  'All  right,'  said  she, 
'I'll  be  there,'  and  left  me  standing  in  the  middle  of  the 
street.  You've  got  to  come  now,  Helen,  to  preserve 
my  dignity." 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

"I'm  wild  to  come,  really.  I  want  to  see  what  she'll 
do  to  us  'professional  people.'  Maybe  she  will  pat 
ronize  us  too." 

When  Lee  told  Frank  about  it  at  night  he  failed  to 
laugh  as  heartily  as  she  had  expected.  "That's  all 
very  funny,  the  way  you  tell  it,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact 
the  girl  did  all  she  knew.  She  accepted  your  invitation 
and  civilly  asked  you  to  take  a  ride.  What  more  could 
mortal  woman  proffer?" 

"She  might  have  invited  me  into  the  house." 

"Not  at  the  moment.  It  was  Mart's  hour  for  a  drive, 
and  you  were  interfering  with  one  of  her  duties.  I 
think  she  treated  you  very  well." 

"Anyhow,  she's  coming,  and  so  is  Helen.  It  tickled 
Helen  nearly  into  fits,  of  course,  and  she's  coming — 
just  to  see  me  'put  to  it  to  manage  these  wet  valley 
bronchos.'" 

"The  girl  may  look  like  a  bronk,  but  she's  got  good 
blood  in  her.  She'll  hold  her  own  anywhere  "  replied 
Congdon,  with  conviction. 


CHAPTER  IX 

BERTHA  MEETS  BEN  FORDYCE 

FOR  all  her  impassivity,  Bertha  was  really  elated 
by  this  invitation,  for  she  liked  Congdon,  and  had 
a  very  high  opinion  of  his  powers.  She  experienced 
no  special  dread  of  the  dinner,  for  it  appeared  to  her  at 
the  moment  to  be  a  simple  sitting  down  to  eat  with  some 
friendly  people.  She  was  not  in  awe  of  Mrs.  Congdon, 
however  much  she  might  admire  her  husband's  skill, 
and  she  knew  their  home.  It  was  a  small  house  on  a 
side  street,  and  did  not  compare  for  a  moment  with  her 
own  establishment,  in  which  she  had  begun  to  take  a 
settled  pride. 

As  they  rode  away  she  was  mentally  casting  up  in 
her  mind  a  choice  of  clothes,  when  Haney  remarked: 
"Bertie,  I  don't  believe  I'll  go  to  that  dinner." 

"Why  not?" 

"Well,  I'm  not  as  handy  with  a  cold  deck  as  I  used 
to  be,  and  I  don't  think  I  ought  to  put  me  lame  foot 
into  another  man's  lap." 

"You're  all  right,  Captain,  and,  besides,  I'll  be  close 
by  to  help  out  in  case  you  run  up  against  a  hard  knock 
in  the  steak.  Course  you'll  go — I  want  you  to  get  out 
and  see  the  people.  Why,  you  haven't  taken  a  meal 
out  of  the  house  since  we  moved,  except  that  one  at  the 
Casino.  You  need  more  doin'." 

Haney  was  in  a  dejected  mood.  "So  do  you.  I'm 
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MONEY    MAGIC 

a  heavy  handicap  to  you,  Bertie,  sure  I  am.  As  I  see 
ye  settin'  there  bloomin'  as  a  rose  and  feel  me  own  age 
a-creepin'  on  me,  I  know  I  should  be  takin'  me  conge 
out  of  self-respect — just  to  give  you  open  road." 

"Stop  that!"  she  warningly  cried.  "Hello,  there's 
Ed!  He  seems  in  a  rush.  Wonder  what's  eating 
him?" 

Winchell,  dressed  in  a  new  suit  of  clothes,  darted  from 
the  sidewalk  to  the  carriage,  his  face  shining.  "Say, 
folks,  I'm  called  East.  Old  man  died  yesterday,  and 
I've  got  to  go  home."  He  was  breathing  hard  with 
excitement. 

"Get  in  and  tell  us  about  it,"  commanded  Bertha. 

He  climbed  up  beside  the  driver,  and  turned  on  his 
seat  to  continue.  "Yes,  I've  got  to  go;  and,  say,  the 
old  man  was  well  off.  I  don't  do  no  more  barberin',  I 
tell  you  that.  I'm  goin'  to  study  law.  I'm  comin' 
back  here  just  as  soon  as  things  are  settled  up.  I've 
been  talking  with  a  fellow  here — Lawyer  Hansall;  he 
says  he'll  take  me  in  and  give  me  a  chance.  No  more 
barberin'  for  me,  you  hear  me!" 

"  Tis  a  poor  business,  but  a  necessary,"  remarked 
Haney. 

.  Bertha  was  sympathetic.  "I'm  glad  you're  goin' 
to  get  a  raise.  Of  course,  I'm  sorry  about  your  father." 

"I  understand — so  am  I.  But  he's  gone,  and  it's  up 
to  me  to  think  of  myself.  I  know  you  always  despised 
my  trade." 

"No,  I  didn't.  Men  have  to  be  shaved  and  clipped. 
It's  like  dish-washin',  somebody  has  to  do  it.  We 
can't  all  sit  in  the  parlor." 

Winchell  acknowledged  the  force  of  this.  "Well, 
I  always  felt  sneakin'  about  it,  I'll  admit,  but  that  was 
because  I  was  raised  a  farmer,  and  barbers  were  always 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

cheap  skates  with  us.  We  didn't  use  'em  much,  in 
fact.  Well,  it's  all  up  now,  and  when  I  come  back  I 
want  you  to  forget  I  ever  cut  hair.  A  third  of  the  old 
farm  is  mine,  and  that  will  pay  my  board  while  I  study." 

Neither  Haney  nor  his  young  wife  was  surprised  by 
this  movement  on  his  part  any  more  than  he  was  sur 
prised  at  their  rise  to  wealth  and  luxury;  both  were 
in  accordance  with  the  American  tradition.  But  as 
.they  rode  down  the  street  certain  scornful  Easterners 
(schooled  in  European  conventions)  smiled  to  see  the 
wife  of  an  Irish  millionaire  gambler  in  earnest  con 
versation  with  a  barber. 

Mrs.  Crego,  driving  down-town  with  Mrs.  Congdon, 
stared  in  astonishment,  then  turned  to  Lee.  "And 
you  ask  me  to  meet  such  a  woman  at  dinner!"  she  ex 
claimed,  and  her  tone  expressed  a  kind  of  bewilder 
ment. 

Lee  laughed.  "  You  can't  fail  me  now.  Don't  be 
hasty.  Trust  in  Frank." 

"I'd  hate  to  have  my  dinner  partners  selected  by 
Frank  Congdon.  I  draw  the  line  at  barbers." 

"You're  a  snob,  Helen.  If  you  were  really  as  narrow 
as  you  sound  I'd  cut  you  dead!  Furthermore,  the 
barber  isn't  invited." 

"I  can't  understand  such  people." 

"I  can.  She  don't  know  any  better.  You  impute 
a  low  motive  where  there  is  nothing  worse  than  igno 
rance.  As  Frank  says,  the  girl  is  a  perfectly  natural 
outgrowth  of  a  little  town.  I  hope  our  dinner  won't 
spoil  her." 

Mrs.  Congdon  had  put  the  dinner -hour  early,  and 
when  the  Haneys  drove  up  in  their  glittering  new 
carriage,  drawn  by  two  splendid  black  horses,  she  too 
had  a  moment  of  bewilderment,  but  her  sense  of  humor 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

prevailed.     "Frank,"  she  said,  "you  can't  patronize  a 
turnout  like  that — not  in  my  presence." 

"To-night  art's  name  is  mud,"  he  replied,  with  con 
viction,  and  hastened  down  the  steps  to  help  Haney  up. 

The  gambler  waved  his  proffered  arm  aside.  "I'm 
not  so  bad  as  all  that,"  said  he.  "I  let  me  little  Cor 
poral  help  me — sometimes  for  love  of  it,  not  because  I 
nade  it." 

He  was  still  gaunt  and  pale,  but  his  eyes  were  of  un 
conquerable  fire,  and  the  lift  of  his  head  from  the 
shoulders  was  still  leopard-like.  He  was  dressed  in  a 
black  frock-coat,  with  a  cream-colored  vest  and  gray 
trousers,  and  looked  very  well  indeed  —  quite  irre 
proachable. 

Bertha  was  clad  in  black  also — a  close-fitting,  high- 
necked  gown  which  made  her  fair  skin  shine  like  fire- 
flushed  ivory,  and  her  big  serious  eyes  and  vivid  lips 
completed  the  charm  of  her  singular  beauty.  Her 
bosom  had  lost  some  of  its  girlish  flatness,  but  the  lines 
of  her  hips  and  thighs  still  resembled  those  of  a  boy, 
and  the  pose  of  her  head  was  like  that  of  an  athlete. 

"Won't  you  come  in  and  take  off  your  hat?"  asked 
Mrs.  Congdon.  And  she  followed  without  reply,  leaving 
the  two  men  on  the  porch. 

Without  appearing  to  do  so  she  saw  everything  in  the 
house,  which  was  hardly  more  than  an  artistic  camp,  so 
far  as  the  first  floor  was  concerned.  Navajo  rugs  were 
on  the  floor,  Moqui  plaques  starred  the  walls,  and 
Acoma  ollas  perched  upon  book-shelves  of  thick  plank. 
The  chairs  were  rude,  rough,  and  bolted  at  the  joints. 
The  room  made  a  pleasant  impression  on  Bertha, 
though  she  could  not  have  told  why.  The  ceiling  was 
dark,  the  walls  green,  the  woodwork  stained  pine,  and 
yet  it  had  charm. 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

Mrs.  Congdon  explained  meanwhile  that  Frank  had 
made  the  big  centre -table  of  plank,  and  the  book 
shelves  as  well.  "He  likes  to  tinker  at  such  things," 
she  said.  "Whenever  he  gets  blue  or  cross  I  set  him 
to  shifting  the  dresser  or  making  a  book-shelf,  and  he 
cheers  up  like  mad.  He's  a  regular  kid  anyway — 
always  doing  the  things  he  ought  not  to  do." 

In  this  way  she  tried  to  put  her  guest  at  her  ease, 
while  Bertha  sat  looking  at  her  in  an  absent-minded 
way,  apparently  neither  frightened  nor  embarrassed — 
on  the  contrary,  she  seemed  to  be  thinking  of  something 
else.  At  last,  to  force  a  reply,  Mrs.  Congdon  asked: 
"How  do  you  like  my  husband's  portrait  of  Mr. 
Haney  ?" 

"I  don't  know,"  she  slowly  replied.  "It  looks  like 
him,  and  then  again  it  don't.  I  guess  I'm  not  up  to 
hand  paintin's.  Enlarged  photographs  are  about  my 
size." 

"You're  disappointed,  then?" 

"Well,  yes,  I  don't  know  but  I  am.  I  didn't  think 
it  was  going  to  look  just  that  way.  Mr.  Congdon  says 
blue  shadows  are  under  anybody's  ears  in  the  light,  but 
I  can't  see  'em  on  the  Captain,  and  I  do  see  'em  in  the 
picture;  that's  what  gets  me  twisted.  When  I  look  at 
the  picture  I  can't  see  nothin'  else." 

Her  hostess  laughed.  "I  know  just  how  you  feel, 
but  that's  the  insolence  of  the  painter — he  puts  on 
canvas  what  he  sees,  not  what  his  patron  sees.  The 
more  money  you  pay  for  a  portrait  the  more  insolent 
the  artist." 

At  this  moment  Mrs.  Crego  came  in,  and  (as  she  said 
afterwards)  was  presented  to  the  gambler's  wife  "as 
though  I  were  a  nobody  and  she  a  visiting  countess." 
Bertha  rose,  offered  her  hand,  like  a  boy,  in  silence;  she 

7  87 


MONEY    MAGIC 

stood  very  straight,  with  very  cold  and  unmistakably 
suspicious  face.  And  Alice  Heath,  who  entered  with 
Mrs.  Crego,  shared  this  chill  reception. 

Bertha,  in  truth,  instantly  and  cordially  hated  Mrs. 
Crego;  but  she  pitied  the  younger  woman,  in  whom  she 
detected  another  fugitive  fighting  a  losing  battle  with 
disease.  Miss  Heath  was  very  fair  and  very  frail, 
with  burning  deep -blue  eyes  and  a  lovely  mouth.  She 
greeted  Bertha  with  such  sincere  pleasure  that  the  girl 
inclined  to  her  instantly,  and  they  went  out  on  the 
porch  together.  Alice  put  her  hand  on  Bertha's  arm, 
saying:  "I've  wanted  to  meet  you,  Mr.  Congdon  has 
told  us  so  much  of  you.  Your  life  seems  very  romantic 
to  me." 

The  men  all  rose  to  meet  Mrs.  Congdon,  and  before 
Bertha  had  time  to  recover  from  the  effect  of  the  girl's 
words  she  found  herself  confronted  by  Ben  Fordyce, 
who  looked  like  a  college  boy,  athletic  and  smiling. 
He  was  tall  and  broad-chested,  with  a  round  blond 
face  and  yellow  hair.  His  manner  was  frank,  and  his 
voice  deep.  His  hand,  broad  and  strong,  was  hardened 
by  the  tennis-racket  and  calloused  by  the  golf-stick,  and 
somehow  its  leathery  clasp  pleased  the  girl.  The 
roughness  of  his  palm  made  him  less  alien  than  either 
Congdon  or  Crego. 

They  went  out  to  dinner  immediately,  and  as  she 
walked  beside  Mart  she  felt  the  young  athlete's  eyes 
resting  upon  her  face,  and  the  knowledge  of  this 
troubled  her  unaccountably.  Mrs.  Congdon  seated  him 
opposite  her  at  the  table,  and  he  continued  to  stare  at 
her  with  the  frankest  curiosity.  She  returned  his  gaze 
at  last  with  a  certain  defiance,  but  found  no  offence 
in  his  eyes,  which  were  round  as  his  face,  and  of  a  sin 
cere,  steady  gray.  He  was  smooth-shaven,  and  his 

88 


MONEY    MAGIC 

blond  hair  was  rather  short.  All  these  peculiarities 
appeared  one  by  one  in  the  intervals  between  her  at 
tentions  to  Mart  and  her  study  of  the  furnishings  of 
the  table,  which  was  decorated  with  candles  and  flow 
ers  in  a  way  quite  new  to  her. 

Fordyce  was  as  fine  as  he  looked.  Nothing  equivocal 
was  in  "that  magnificent  boy,"  as  his  friends  called  him, 
and  his  interest  in  little  Mrs.  Haney  was  that  of  the 
Easterner  who,  having  been  told  that  strange  things 
take  place  in  the  West,  is  disappointed  if  they  do  not 
happen  under  his  nose.  He  had  heard  much  of  the 
Haneys  from  Congdon,  and  had  been  especially  im 
pressed  with  the  story  of  Bertha's  midnight  ride  to  the 
bedside  of  the  dying  gambler.  The  wedding  in  the 
saloon,  her  devotion  to  the  wounded  man,  their  descent 
upon  the  Springs,  and  their  domestication  in  a  stone 
palace — all  appealed  to  his  imagination.  Such  things 
could  not  happen  in  Chester ;  they  were  of  the  mountain 
West,  and  most  satisfying  to  his  taste. 

Bertha,  on  her  part,  had  to  admit  that  the  people  at 
the  table  were  most  kindly,  even  considerate.  They 
made  her  husband  the  centre  of  interest,  and  passed 
politely  over  all  his  disastrous  attempts  to  use  his  left 
hand.  There  were  no  awkward  pauses,  for,  excepting 
one  or  two  slips  of  tongue,  Haney  rose  to  the  occasion. 
He  was  big  enough  and  self-contained  enough  not  to 
apologize  for  what  he  had  been  or  what  he  was,  and 
under  Congdon 's  skilful  guidance  told  of  his  experiences 
as  amateur  miner  and  gambler,  growing  humorous  as 
the  wine  mellowed  and  lightened  his  reminiscences. 
He  felt  the  sympathy  of  his  audience.  All  listened  de 
lightedly  with  no  accusation  in  their  eyes — except  in 
the  case  of  Mrs.  Crego,  who  still  breathed,  so  it  seemed 
to  Bertha,  a  certain  contempt  and  inner  repugnance. 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Young  Fordyce  glowed  with  delight  in  these  tales, 
reading  beneath  the  terse  lines  of  Haney's  slang  some 
thing  epic,  detecting  a  perfect  willingness  to  take  any 
chance.  The  fact  that  his  bravery  led  to  nothing 
conventionally  noble  or  moral  did  not  detract  from 
the  inherent  interest  of  the  tale;  on  the  contrary,  the 
young  fellow,  being  of  unusual  imaginative  reach  and 
freedom,  took  pleasure  in  the  thought  that  a  man 
would  risk  his  life  again  and  again  merely  for  the 
excitement  of  it.  Occasionally  he  glanced  at  Judge 
Crego,  to  find  him  looking  upon  Haney  with  thoughtful 
glance.  It  was  a  little  like  listening  to  a  prisoner's 
confession  of  guilt  (as  he  afterwards  said) ,  but  to  him, 
as  to  Congdon,  it  was  a  most  interesting  monologue. 

It  added  enormously  to  the  romance,  so  far  as  Ben 
Fordyce  was  concerned,  to  look  across  the  table  at 
the  grave,  watchful  face  of  the  girl  who  unfolded  her 
husband's  napkin  or  cut  up  his  roast  with  deft  hand — 
always  careful  not  to  interrupt  his  talk. 

As  he  thought  of  the  quiet  Quaker  neighborhood 
from  which  he  came,  and  contrasted  these  singular  and 
powerfully  defined  personalities  with  the  "men  of 
wreight"  and  the  demure  maidens  of  his  acquaintance, 
Ben's  blood  tingled  with  a  sense  of  the  bigness  and 
strangeness  of  the  greater  America.  The  West  was  no 
longer  a  nation ;  it  was  a  world.  To  be  in  it  at  last  was 
a  delight  as  well  as  an  education. 

Bertha,  on  her  part,  felt  no  strangeness  in  her  position. 
Her  marriage  was  a  logical  outcome  of  her  life  and  sur 
roundings.  The  incomprehensible  lay  in  the  shining 
women  about  her.  Their  ideas  of  life,  their  comment, 
puzzled  her.  Their  clothes  were  of  a  kind  which  her 
own  money  could  buy,  but  their  manners,  their  grace 
of  speech,  their  gestures,  came  of  something  besides 

90 


MONEY    MAGIC 

money.  Mrs.  Crego  was  especially  formidable,  and 
made  her  feel  the  inadequacy  of  the  black  gown  which 
she  had  thought  very  fine  when  she  selected  it,  ready 
made,  in  a  Denver  store.  She  did  not  know  that  Mrs. 
Crego  had  dressed  "very  simply,"  at  the  suggestion 
of  her  hostess;  but  she  did  feel  a  certain  condescension 
of  manner,  even  in  Alice,  and  was  glad  the  Captain 
absorbed  so  much  of  the  table-talk. 

Her  time  of  trial  came  when  the  ladies  rose  and,  at 
Mrs.  Congdon's  suggestion,  returned  to  the  porch, 
leaving  the  men  to  finish  their  cigars.  Not  one  of 
Ben's  little  courtesies  towards  the  women  escaped  her. 
His  acquiescence,  Congdon's  tone  of  exaggerated  re 
spect,  Crego 's  compliments,  were  all  new  to  her,  and  in  a 
certain  sense  she  resented  them.  She  doubted  their 
sincerity  a  little,  notwithstanding  their  grateful  charm. 

Alice  took  her  to  herself  and  this  was  a  great  relief; 
for  she  feared  Mrs.  Crego's  sharp  tongue,  and  was  not 
entirely  sure  of  her  hostess. 

Laying  a  slim  hand  on  her  arm,  the  Eastern  girl  began: 
"I  am  fascinated  by  you,  Mrs.  Haney.  You  have  had 
such  an  interesting  life,  and  you  have  such  an  oppor 
tunity  for  doing  good." 

Bertha  looked  at  her  in  blank  surprise.  "What  do 
you  mean?" 

"With  your  great  wealth  you  can  accomplish  so 
much.  Had  you  thought  of  that?" 

"  No,  I  hadn't."  The  answer  was  blunt.  "  I've  been 
so  busy  getting  settled  and  looking  after  the  Captain, 
I  haven't  had  time  to  think  of  anything  else." 

"Oh,  of  course;  but  by  and  by  you'll  begin  to  look 
about  you  for  things  to  help  —  I  mean  hospitals  and 
charities,  and  all  that.  The  only  time  when  I  envy 
great  wealth  is  when  I  see  some  wrong  which  money 


MONEY    MAGIC 

,can  right.  Mr.  Fordyce  is  a  lawyer,  but  not  a  very 
famous  one — he's  only  twenty-eight;  and  while  we 
are  likely  to  have  all  we  really  need,  we  can't  begin  to 
do  what  we'd  like  to  do  for  others.  I  suppose  Mrs. 
Congdon  has  told  you  of  us?" 

44 Where  do  you  live?" 

"We  live  in  Chester,  but  Mr.  Fordyce  has  an  office 
in  Philadelphia.  We  have  been  engaged  a  long  time, 
but  I  couldn't  think  of  marrying  while  I  was  so  ill. 
I'm  afraid  I  stayed  so  long  that  not  even  this  climate 
can  help  me." 

This  was  indeed  Bertha's  conviction,  and  her  untact- 
ful  silence  said  as  much.  Therefore,  Alice  hastened  on  to 
other  more  general  topics.  She  was  very  sprightly,  but 
Bertha  maintained  a  determined  silence  through  it  all, 
quite  unable  to  understand  the  girl's  confidences. 

When  the  men  came  out  Alice  took  Haney  to  herself, 
and  they  seemed  to  enjoy  each  other's  society  very 
keenly;  indeed,  their  mutual  absorption  became  so  com 
plete  that  Ben  remarked  upon  it  to  Bertha.  "Miss 
Heath  has  been  crazy  to  meet  your  husband,  Mrs. 
Haney.  His  adventurous  life  appeals  to  her,  as  to  me, 
very  deeply.  We  don't  mean  to  be  offensive,  but  to 
us  you  seem  typical  of  the  West." 

What  he  said  at  this  time  made  less  impression  on  her 
than  the  way  in  which  he  spoke.  The  light  of  an  elec 
tric  street-lamp  fell  upon  his  face,  revealing  its  charm 
ing  lines.  On  his  fine  hand  a  ring  gleamed.  Autumn 
insects  were  singing  sleepily  in  the  grass  and  from  the 
trees.  The  laughter  of  girls  came  from  the  dusk  of 
neighboring  lawns,  and  over  all  descended  the  magical 
light  of  a  harvest  moon,  flecking  the  surface  of  the  little 
garden  with  shadows  almost  as  definite  as  those  cast  by 
the  flaming  white  globes  of  the  street-lamps.  It  is  on 

92 


MONEY    MAGIC 

such  nights  that  the  heart  of  youth  expands  with  long 
ing  and  sadness. 

Crego  and  Congdon  fell  into  hot  argument  (their 
usual  method  of  conversation),  leaving  the  young 
people  to  themselves,  and,  Ben  with  intent  to  provoke 
the  grave  little  wife  to  laughter,  told  a  funny  story 
which  reflected  on  Congdon 's  improvidence. 

Bertha  was  really  grateful,  for  she  felt  herself  at  a 
great  disadvantage  among  these  fluent  and  interesting 
folk,  who  talked  like  the  characters  in  novels.  Their 
jests,  their  comment,  meant  little  to  her;  but  their 
gestures,  their  graceful  attitudes,  their  courtesies  to 
each  other,  meant  much.  They  were  something  more 
than  polite;  they  were  considerate  in  a  way  which 
showed  their  thoughtfulness  to  be  deeply  grounded  in 
habitual  action.  They  used  slang,  but  they  used  it  as  a 
garnish,  not  as  a  habit  of  speech.  Expressions  which 
she  had  read  in  books,  but  had  never  before  heard 
spoken,  flowed  from  their  lips.  Their  sentences  were 
built  up  for  effect;  in  Crego's  case  this  was  more  or  less 
expected,  but  the  phrases  of  Fordyce  and  Congdon 
were  still  more  disconcerting.  The  art  of  their  stories 
was  a  revelation  of  the  neatness  and  precision  of 
cultivated  speech. 

When  Mrs.  Congdon  led  the  way  back  into  the  house 
Ben  stepped  to  Alice's  side,  saying,  in  a  low  tone:  "I 
hope  you  haven't  taken  a  chill.  I  beg  your  pardon, 
dearest;  I  should  have  watched  you  more  closely." 

Once  within-doors  Mrs.  Congdon  insisted  on  Ben's 
singing,  which  he  did  with  smiling  readiness,  express 
ing,  however,  a  profound  ignorance  of  music.  "I 
never  take  my  songs  as  seriously  as  my  friends  seem  to 
do,"  he  explained  to  Bertha.  "Music  with  me  is  a 
gift  rather  than  an  acquirement." 

93 


MONEY    MAGIC 

His  voice  was  indeed  fresh  and  sweet,  and  he  sang — 
as  Bertha  had  never  heard  any  one  sing — certain  love 
ballads,  whose  despairing  cadences  were  made  the  more 
profoundly  piercing,  someway,  by  his  happy  boyish  face 
and  handsomely  clothed  and  powerful  figure.  "'But 
I  and  my  True  Love  Will  Never  Meet  Again!' "  seemed 
to  be  a  fatalistic  cry  rather  than  a  wail  of  sadness  as  it 
came  from  his  lips,  but  its  melody  sank  deep  into  the 
girl's  heart.  She  sat  in  rigid  absorption,  her  eyes  fixed 
upon  the  splendid  young  singer  as  a  child  looks  upon 
some  new  and  complicated  toy.  The  grace  with  which 
he  pronounced  his  words,  the  spread  of  his  splendid 
chest,  his  easy  pose,  his  self -depreciating  shrugs  en 
thralled  her.  Surely  this  was  one  of  the  young  princes 
of  the  earth.  His  voice  came  to  her  freighted  with  the 
passion  of  ideal  manhood. 

He  sang  other  songs — tunes  not  worthy  of  him — 
but  ended  with  a  ballad  called  "Fair  Springtide,"  by 
MacDowell — a  song  so  stern,  so  strange,  so  inexorably 
sad  that  the  singer  himself  grew  grave  at  last  and  rose 
to  his  best.  Bertha  was  thrilled  to  the  heart,  saddened 
yet  exalted  by  his  voice.  Her  horizon — her  emotional 
horizon — was  of  a  sudden  extended,  and  she  caught 
glimpses  of  strange  lands  and  dim  peaks  of  fabled 
mountains ;  and  when  the  singer  declared  himself  at  an 
end  she  sat  benumbed  while  the  others  cheered — her 
hands  folded  on  her  lap.  It  seemed  a  profanation  to 
applaud. 

Haney  gloomed  in  silence  also,  but  not  for  the  same 
reason .  "I  might  have  sung  like  that  once ,"  he  thought , 
for  he  had  been  choir-boy  in  his  ragamuffin  youth,  and 
had  regained  a  fine  tenor  voice  at  eighteen.  Age  and 
neglect  had  ruined  it,  however.  For  ten  years  he  had 
not  attempted  to  sing  a  note.  This  youth  made  him 

94 


MONEY    MAGIC 

dream  of  the  past — as  it  caused  Bertha  to  forecast  the 
future. 

While  young  Fordyce  was  putting  away  his  music 
the  Captain  struggled  to  his  feet,  and  Bertha,  seeing 
a  sudden  paleness  overspread  his  face,  hastened  to 
him. 

"I  reckon  we'd  better  be  going,"  she  said  to  Mrs. 
Congdon,  with  blunt  directness. 

"It's  early  yet,"  replied  her  hostess. 

Haney  replied:  "Not  for  cripples.  Time  was  when 
I  could  sit  all  night  in  the  'lookout's  chair,'  but  not 
now.  Ten  o'clock  finds  me  wishful  towards  the  bed." 
He  said  this  with  a  faint  smile.  But  the  pathos  of  it,  the 
truth  of  it,  went  to  Bertha's  heart,  as  it  did  to  Mrs. 
Congdon 's.  Not  merely  was  his  body  maimed,  but  his 
mind  had  correspondingly  been  weakened  by  that 
tearing  charge  of  shot. 

Something  of  his  native  Celtic  gallantry  came  back 
to  him  as  he  said:  "Sure,  Mrs.  Congdon,  we've  had  a 
fine  evening.  You  must  come  to  see  us  soon." 

Ben  was  addressing  himself  to  Bertha.  "Do  you 
ever  ride?" 

"I  used  to — I  don't  now.  You  see,  the  Captain  can't 
stand  the  jolt  of  a  horse,  so  we  mostly  drive." 

"I  was  about  to  say  that  Alice  and  I  would  be  glad 
to  have  you  join  us.  We  ride  every  morning — a  very 
gentle  pace,  I  assure  you,  for  I'm  no  rough-rider,  and, 
besides,  she  sets  the  pace." 

Bertha's  face  was  pale  and  her  eyes  darkly  luminous 
as  she  falteringly  answered.  "I'd  like  to — but — 
Perhaps  I  can  some  time.  I'm  much  obliged,"  and 
then  she  gave  him  her  hand  in  parting. 

Mrs.  Congdon  was  subtly  moved  by  something  in  the 
girl's  face  as  she  said  good-night,  and  to  her  invitation 

95 


MONEY    MAGIC 

to  come  and  see  her  cordially  responded:  "I  certainly 
shall  do  so." 

Little  Mrs.  Haney  rode  away  from  her  first  dinner 
party  in  the  silence  of  one  whose  thoughts  are  too  swift 
and  too  new  to  find  speech.  Her  brain,  sensitive  as 
that  of  a  babe,  had  caught  and  ineffaceably  retained 
a  million  impressions  which  were  to  influence  all  her 
after  life.  The  most  vivid  and  most  powerful  of  these 
impressions  rose  from  the  glowing  beauty  of  young 
Fordyce,  whose  like  she  had  never  seen;  but  as  back 
ground  to  him  was  the  lovely  room,  the  shining  table,  the 
grace  and  charm  of  the  conversation,  and,  dominating 
all,  the  music — quite  the  best  she  had  ever  heard.  The 
evening — so  simple,  almost  commonplace,  to  her  hostess 
— was  of  unspeakable  significance  to  the  uncultured  girl. 

She  did  not  wish  to  talk,  and  when  Haney  spoke  she 
made  no  reply  to  his  comment.  "A  fine  bunch  of 
people,"  he  repeated.  "They  sure  treated  us  right. 
Crego's  the  fine  man — we  do  well  to  make  him  our 
lawyer."  As  Bertha  again  failed  to  respond  he  re 
sumed,  with  a  little  chuckle:  "But  Mrs.  Crego  is  saying, 
'I  dunno — them  Haneys  is  queer  cattle.'  And  the 
little  sick  lady,  sure  she  was  as  interested  in  me  talk 
as  Patsy  McGonnigle.  She  drug  out  o'  me  some  of  me 
wildest  scrapes.  Poor  little  girl,  'twill  soon  be  all  up 
with  her.  .  .  .  It's  a  fine  young  fellow  she  has.  A 
Quaker  by  training,  she  says.  My !  my !  What  a  prize 
fighter  he'd  make  if  his  mind  ran  that  way!  Think 
of  a  Quaker  with  a  chest  like  that — 'tis  something 
ferocious!  He  can  sing,  too,  can't  he?  A  fine  lad — 
as  fine  as  iver  I  see.  Think  of  shoulders  like  his  all 
wasted  on  a  man  of  peace.  I'm  afraid  the  little  lady 
will  never  put  on  the  ring  if  she  waits  till  she  gets  well." 

96 


MONEY    MAGIC 

To  this  Bertha  listened  intently,  but  gave  out  no  sign 
of  interest.  She  was  eager  to  be  alone,  eager  to  review 
all  that  had  happened — all  that  had  been  said. 

For  the  first  time  since  her  marriage  she  felt  Haney's 
presence  to  be  just  the  least  bit  of  a  burden;  and  when 
they  entered  the  house  she  urged  his  immediate  retire 
ment,  though  he  was  disposed  to  sit  in  the  library  and 
talk.  "They  were  high-class,"  he  said,  again.  "I 
never  supposed  I  could  make  easy  camp  with  such 
people.  They  sure  treated  us  noble.  They  made  us 
feel  at  home.  .  .  .  We  must  have  some  liquor  like  that. 
I've  always  despised  wine  and  those  that  took  it;  but, 
bedad!  I  see  there  are  two  sides  to  that  question.  'Tis 
not  so  thin  as  I  thought  it." 

Bertha  at  last  got  him  safely  bestowed,  and  was  free 
to  seek  her  own  apartment,  which  she  did  at  once.  Her 
chamber,  which  adjoined  her  husband's  to  the  west  (he 
liked  the  morning  sun),  was  a  big  room,  and  the  young 
wife  looked  like  a  doll  as  she  dropped  into  a  broad 
tufted  chair  which  stood  in  a  square  bay-window, 
and  with  folded  hands  looked  out  upon  the  ghostly 
shapes  of  the  great  peaks,  snow-covered  and  moonlit. 

A  thousand  revelations  of  character  as  well  as  of 
manners  lay  in  that  short  evening's  contact  with 
cultivated  and  thoughtful  people.  It  argued  much  for 
her  ancestry,  for  her  own  latent  powers,  that  she  re 
sponded  with  such  bewildering  readiness  to  the  sug 
gestions  which  rose  like  sparks  of  fire  from  that  radiant 
hour. 

She  had  been  made  to  feel  dimly,  vaguely,  but 
multitudinously,  the  fibres  and  reaches  of  another 
world — the  world  of  art,  and  that  indefinable  thing 
which  the  books  call  culture ;  and  finally,  in  that  splendid 
young  Quaker,  she  was  brought  to  know  a  man  who 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

could  be  jocular  without  being  coarse,  and  whose  glance 
was  as  sincere  as  it  was  flattering  and  alluring. 

She  did  not  think  of  him  as  husband  to  Alice  Heath, 
who  seemed  so  much  older  in  spirit  as  in  body  (more 
like  an  elder  sister  than  a  bride  elect) ,  and  his  considera 
tion  of  her  was  that  of  brother  rather  than  the  devotion 
of  a  lover.  How  far  he  stood  removed  from  Ed 
Winchell  and  the  young  fellows  of  Sibley!  "And  yet 
I  can  understand  him,"  she  thought.  "He  ain't 
funny,  like  Mr.  Congdon.  He  don't  say  queer  things, 
and  he  don't  make  game  of  people.  And  he  don't  orate 
like  Judge  Crego.  He  isn't  laughing  at  us  now,  the 
way  the  others  are.  I  bet  they're  havin'  a  good  time 
over  our  blunders." 

She  saw  Marshall  Haney  in  a  new  light  also.  For 
the  first  time  he  seemed  like  an  old  man,  sitting  there, 
supine,  garrulous,  in  the  midst  of  those  self-contained 
people.  "Gosh!  how  he  did  talk!  He  took  too  much 
wine,  I  reckon,  but  that  didn't  make  all  the  difference." 
In  truth,  his  imperiousness,  his  contempt,  had  been 
melted  and  charmed  away  by  the  genial  smiles  of  his 
auditors.  Even  Mrs.  Crego  had  listened  with  a  show  of 
interest.  It  was  as  if  a  lonely  old  man  had  at  last 
found  companionship. 

What  did  all  this  mean?  "Are  they  interested  in 
him  only  because  he's  what  they  call  a  desperado? 
Did  they  ask  us  there  to  hear  him  tell  stories  of  his 
wild  life?"  Questions  of  this  kind  also  troubled  her. 

The  moon  slid  behind  the  mountain  range  while  still 
the  girl  sat  with  pale  face  and  wide  dark  eyes  thinking, 
thinking,  the  wings  of  her  expanding  soul  fluttering 
with  vague  unrest.  Only  once  in  a  lifetime  can  such 
an  experience  come  to  a  human  being.  Her  swift  ride 
to  Marshall  Haney's  side  that  summer  night — now  so 


MONEY    MAGIC 

far  away — was  momentous,  but  its  import  was  simple 
compared  with  the  experiences  through  which  she  had 
just  passed. 

She  rose  at  last,  chilled  and  stiffened,  and  went  to  her 
bed  with  a  sense  of  foreboding  rather  than  of  new-found 
happiness. 

Mart  rose  late  next  morning.  "I  had  a  bad  night," 
he  explained.  "The  mixed  liquors  I  tuck  got  into  me 
wound,  I  guess.  It  woke  me  twice,  achin'  and  burnin'. 
You're  lookin'  tired  yersilf,  little  girl.  This  high  life 
seems  to  be  wearin'  on  the  both  of  us." 


CHAPTER  X 

BEN  FORDYCE  CALLS  ON  HORSEBACK 

BEN  FORDYCE  and  his  affianced  bride  rode  home 
talking  of  the  Haneys.  "Aren't  they  deliciously 
Western!"  she  said. 

"Mrs.  Haney  certainly  is  a  quaint  little  thing,"  he 
replied,  quite  soberly;  "she's  like  a  quail — so  bright- 
eyed,  and  so  still.  I  think  her  devotion  to  her  old 
husband  very  beautiful.  She's  more  like  a  daughter 
than  a  wife,  don't  you  think  so?" 

"They're  great  fun  if  you  don't  feel  sorry  for  him  as 
I  do,"  Alice  thoughtfully  responded.  "They  say  he 
was  magnificent  as  a  gambler.  He  admitted  to  me  to 
night  that  he  longed  to  go  back  to  the  camp,  but  that 
he  had  promised  his  wife  and  mother-in-law  not  to  do 
so.  I  never  ran  a  gambling-saloon,  but  I  can  imagine 
it  would  be  exciting  as  a  play  all  the  time,  can't  you  ? 
Here,  as  he  said  to  me,  he  can  only  sit  in  the  sun  like 
a  lizard  on  a  log.  It  must  seem  wonderful  to  her — 
having  all  this  money  and  that  big  castle  of  a  house. 
Don't  you  think  so  ?  Wasn't  she  reticent !  She  hardly 
uttered  a  word  the  whole  evening.  Some  way  I  feel 
sorry  for  them  both.  They  can't  be  happy.  Don't 
you  see  that?  It  is  plain  she  doesn't  love  him  as  a 
wife  should,  while  he  worships  her.  When  she's  away 
he  is  helpless.  'I'm  no  gairdner,'  he  said, pathetically ; 
'  I  was  raised  on  the  cobble-stones.  I  wouldn't  know 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

a  growin'  cabbage  from 'a  'squash.'  So  you  see  he  can't 
pass  his  time  in  gardening."-  v  •  ;"  :  •• 

Ben's  reply  was  a  question".  "1  wonder  if  she  would 
ride  with  us?" 

"  Perhaps  we  would  do  better  not  to  follow  up  the 
acquaintance,  Ben.  It's  all  very  interesting  to  meet 
them  as  we  did  to-night,  but  they  are  impossible  socially 
—that  you  must  admit.  If  there  is  any  possibility 
of  our  settling  down  here  I  suppose  we  must  be  careful 
to  do  the  right  thing  from  the  start." 

Ben  was  a  little  irritated  by  this.  "If  I'm  to  settle 
here  as  a  lawyer  I  can't  draw  social  distinctions  of  that 
sort." 

"Certainly  not — as  a  lawyer.  Of  course,  you  ought 
to  know  Haney;  but  for  me  to  ride  or  drive  with  Mrs. 
Haney  is  quite  a  different  matter.  However,  I  don't 
really  care.  She  attracts  me,  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  is 
just  a  nice  little  uncultivated  woman.  We  might  call 
on  her  in  the  morning,  and  see  if  she  can  go  with  us. 
It  will  commit  us;  but  really,  Ben,  I  am  not  going  to 
drag  Eastern  conventions  into  this  fresh  big  country. 
I'm  willing  to  risk  the  Haney s." 

"I'm  glad  you  take  that  view  of  it,"  said  Ben. 

Bertha  was  in  the  yard  when  they  rode  up  to  the 
gate  next  morning.  Dressed  in  a  white  sweater  and 
a  short  skirt,  and  holding  biscuits  for  a  handsome 
collie  to  snatch  from  her  hand,  she  made  a  charming 
picture  of  young  and  vigorous  life.  Her  slim  body  was 
as  strong  and  supple  as  the  dog's,  and  her  face  glowed 
like  a  child's.  Haney,  sitting  on  the  porch,  was  watch 
ing  her  with  a  proud  smile. 

Alice  glanced  at  her  lover  with  admiration  in  her 
eyes.  "What  a  glorious  creature  she  really  is!" 

101 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Seeing  visitors  at  her  gate,  Bertha  came  down  without 
confusion  to  sav  £ood-morning,  and  to  ask  them  to 
dismount. 

Ben,  with  doffed  cap,  replied  by  saying:  "We've  come 
to  ask  you  to  ride  with  us." 

Bertha  looked  up  at  him  composedly.  "Haven't 
a  saddle,  and  I  don't  know  that  any  of  our  horses  are 
broken.  But  come  again  to-morrow,  and  I'll  have  an 
outfit." 

"There's  no  time  like  the  present.  Let  me  ride  down 
to  the  barn  and  bring  one  up,"  volunteered  Ben. 

"Don't  need  to  do  that,  I'll  'phone.  I  didn't  really 
expect  you,"  she  explained.  "Get  off  and  come  in  a 
few  minutes,  and  I'll  see  what  I  can  hustle  together  for 
an  outfit.  I  haven't  rode  a  lick  since  I  left  Sibley." 

Ben  helped  Alice  to  dismount,  and  Bertha  led  her  to 
the  house  while  he  tethered  the  horses. 

"What  a  superb  place  you  have  here!"  exclaimed 
Alice.  "It  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  city." 

"We  bought  it  for  the  porch,"  calmly  replied  the 
girl.  "The  Captain  likes  to  sit  where  he  can  see  the 
mountains.  I'm  not  entirely  done  with  the  outfitting 
yet,  but  it  beats  a  barn." 

Haney  rose  as  they  drew  near,  and  smilingly  greeted 
his  visitors.  "I  should  be  out  gatherin'  the  peanuts 
and  harvestin'  the  egg-plants,  but  the  dinner  last  night, 
not  mentionin'  Congdon's  pink  liquor,  kept  me  awake 
till  two." 

"Moral:  Stick  to  Irish  whiskey — or  Scotch,"  laughed 
Ben. 

"I  will.  These  strange  liquors  are  not  for  strong 
men  like  ourselves." 

Ben  took  a  seat  at  his  invitation,  while  Bertha  went 
in  to  'phone  for  a  horse  and  to  "dig  up"  a  riding-skirt. 

102 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Alice  was  eager  to  see  the  interior  of  the  house,  but  held 
her  curiosity  in  check  by  walking  about  the  beautiful 
garden,  which  ran  to  the  very  edge  of  a  deep  ravine. 
The  trees  hid  the  base  of  the  mountain  peaks,  whose 
immitigable  crags  took  on  added  majesty  from  the  play 
of  the  delicate  near-by  branches  against  their  distant 
rugged  slopes. 

"You  have  a  magnificent  outlook  here,  Captain 
Haney." 

"  Tis  so,  and  I  try  to  be  content  with  it;  but  it's  hard 
for  one  who  has  roamed  the  air  like  a  hawk  all  his  life  to 
be  content  with  ridin'  a  wooden  horse.  I  couldn't  en 
dure  it  if  it  weren't  for  me  wife." 

His  big  form  rested  in  his  chair  with  a  ponderous 
inertness  which  was  a  telltale  witness  to  his  essential 
helplessness.  His  left  hand  still  failed  to  participate 
in  the  movements  of  his  right,  and  yet.  as  he  showed, 
he  could,  by  special  effort  of  will,  use  it.  "I'm  gaining 
all  the  time — but  slowly,"  he  went  on.  "I  want  to 
make  a  trip  back  up  to  the  mines,  and  I  think  I'll  be 
able  to  do  it  soon."  He  put  aside  his  own  troubles. 
"And  you,  miss,  I  hope  the  climate  is  doing  you  good?" 

"Oh,  indeed,  yes,"  she  brightly  responded.  "I  feel 
stronger  every  day." 

Ben  at  the  moment  experienced  a  sharp  pang  of  un 
easiness  and  pain,  for  Alice  was  looking  particularly 
worn  and  thin  and  yellow;  and  when  Bertha  returned, 
flushed  with  her  haste,  the  contrast  between  them  was 
quite  as  distressing  as  that  between  the  withered,  dying 
rose  and  the  opening,  fragrant  bud.  The  young  man's 
heart  rose  to  his  throat.  "We  have  waited  too  long," 
he  thought,  and  resolved  to  again  urge  upon  her  a  new 
treatment  which  they  had  discussed. 

"Come  in  and  see  the  house,"  said  Bertha,  in  brusque 
8  103 


MONEY    MAGIC 

invitation.  "It  isn't  ship-shape  yet.  I  wanted  to  do 
it  all  myself,  but  I  find  it's  a  big  proposition  to  go  up 
against.  It  sure  is.  But  I  like  it.  I'd  like  nothing 
better  than  running  a  big  hotel — not  too  big,  but  just 
big  enough.  I  tell  the  Captain  that  when  our  mines 
'pinch  out'  I'll  go  to  Denver  and  start  a  hotel." 

She  was  quite  communicative,  but  not  at  ease  as  she 
led  them  from  room  to  room.  Her  manner  was  rather 
that  of  one  seeking  to  conceal  trepidation,  and  her 
fluency  seemed  a  little  out  of  character. 

In  fact,  she  was  trying  to  make  the  best  possible  im 
pression  on  these  people,  whose  sincere  interest  she 
felt;  but  with  Ben's  eyes  fixed  upon  her  so  constantly, 
and  a  knowledge  of  Alice's  delicate  wit  to  trouble,  she 
was  more  deeply  embarrassed  than  ever  before  in  her 
life.  It  was  not  her  habit  to  blush  or  stammer,  and 
she  did  not  do  so  now,  but  she  was  carried  out  of  her 
wonted  reticence. 

"As  I  say,  we  bought  the  place  for  the  porch.  I 
didn't  realize  what  I  was  being  let  into — if  I  had  I 
might  have  shied.  We're  practically  lost  in  the  place. 
Except  when  some  of  the  people  come  down  from  camp, 
we're  alone.  My  mother  helps  out  some,  but  she's  up 
at  the  ranch  a  good  deal.'*  She  opened  the  library 
door,  and  led  the  way  before  an  easel,  on  which  stood  a 
huge  canvas.  "Here's  the  picture  Mr.  Congdon  is 
paintin'  of  the  Captain.  I  wanted  him  taken  with  his 
hat  on,  but  Mr.  Congdon  said  no,  and  his  word  went. 
I  don't  know  whether  I  like  this  or  not.  It's  got  me 
twisted." 

Congdon  had  been  after  psychology  rather  than  cos 
tume,  that  was  evident  at  a  glance,  for  the  clothing 
counted  for  little  in  the  portrait.  Out  of  the  shadow 
the  face  peered  sadly,  yet  with  a  kind  of  ferocity,  too— 

104 


MONEY    MAGIC 

a  look  which  made  Alice  Heath  recoil  from  the  man. 
In  a  certain  way  the  artist  had  taken  advantage  of 
Mart's  helplessness  and  loneliness.  He  had  caught 
the  sadness,  sullenness,  and  remorselessness  of  his  sitter 
rather  than  his  gay,  good-tempered  smile.  The  face  of 
this  man  was  concerned  with  the  past,  not  with  the 
future ;  and  yet  on  its  surface  it  was  a  good  likeness,  as 
Ben  said,  and  had  both  power  and  distinction.  "I 
think  it  a  cracker-jack  piece  of  work,"  he  ended. 

Bertha  replied:  "I  suppose  it  is,  and  yet  I  can't  see 
it.  I'd  rather  it  looked  the  way  the  Captain  used  to 
when  he  came  down  to  the  Junction.  I'm  sorry  to 
have  his  sickness  painted  in  that  way." 

"That  can't  be  helped.  These  artists  are  queer 
cattle;  you  can't  drive  'em,"  Ben  remarked. 

Bertha  smiled.  "He  wants  to  paint  me  now.  'Not 
on  your  life'  says  I.  '  You'd  be  doing  double  stunts  with 
my  freckles,  and  I  won't  stand  for  it/"  She  laughed. 
"No  sir-ree,  I  don't  let  any  artist  tip  my  freckles  edge 
wise  just  to  see  how  flip  he  is  at  it.  I  like  Mr.  Congdon, 
but  I  don't  trust  him — he's  too  much  of  a  joker." 

Thereupon  she  led  the  way  to  the  second  floor,  and 
showed  them  the  furniture,  which  was  mostly  very 
costly  and  very  bad,  and  at  last  said:  "The  third 
story  is  pretty  empty  yet.  I  don't  know  just  what  I'm 
going  to  do  with  it."  She  was  looking  at  Alice.  "I 
wish  you'd  come  over  and  help  me  decide  some  day." 

"What  fun!"  cried  Alice,  speaking  on  the  impulse. 
"I'd  like  to  very  much." 

"You  see,"  Bertha  went  on,  "my  folks  have  always 
been  purty  poor,  and  I've  lived  in  jay  towns  all  my  life; 
and  when  I  came  here  I  didn't  know  any  more  about 
life  in  a  city  than  a  duck  does  of  mining.  I  had  it  all 
to  learn,  and  they's  a  whole  lot  yet  that  I  don't  know." 


MONEY    MAGIC 

She  smiled  quaintly,  then  grew  sober.  "And  what's 
worse,  I  haven't  any  one  to  tell  me — except  Mr.  Cong- 
don,  and  he's  such  a  josher  I  don't  trust  him.  He  did 
give  me  a  few  points  on  the  library,  which  ain't  so  bad, 
we  think ;  but  all  the  rest  of  it  I  had  to  dig  out  myself, 
and  it's  slow  work.  But  I  guess  we  better  go  down; 
my  horse  will  be  here  in  a  few  minutes."  Then,  with 
lowered  voice,  she  added:  "I  can't  stay  out  but  a  little 
while.  The  Captain  dreads  to  have  me  leave  him  even 
to  go  down-town.  I  hadn't  ought  to  go  at  all." 

Ben  began  to  perceive  a  real  slavery  in  her  life,  and 
reassured  her.  "I'm  glad  you're  coming.  It  will 
do  you  good,  and  it  will  be  a  pleasure  to  us  too.  We'll 
only  be  away  an  hour." 

As  they  returned  to  the  porch,  Bertha  put  her  hand 
on  Haney's  shoulder,  in  the  manner  of  one  man  to  an 
other,  saying:  "I'm  going  for  a  little  ride  with  these 
people,  Captain,  if  you  don't  mind." 

"Not  a  whiff,"  he  answered.  "I'll  be  here  when  you 
come  back."  Again  a  subtle  cadence  in  his  voice  so 
belied  his  smile  that  Alice's  heart  responded  to  it. 

Bertha's  horse  proved  to  be  a  spirited  animal,  but 
she  mounted  him  with  the  ease  and  celerity  of  a  boy — 
riding  astride,  in  the  mountain  fashion.  "I  haven't 
a  long  skirt,"  she  carelessly  remarked  to  Alice.  That 
was  all  the  explanation  she  offered,  and  Ben  thought 
he  had  never  seen  anything  more  alert,  more  graceful, 
than  her  slim  figure  poised  alertly  in  the  saddle,  her 
face  glowing,  her  hair  blown  across  her  face. 

Alice,  a  timid  rider,  admired  them  both  from  her 
position,  which  was  always  behind,  though  they  tried 
to  accommodate  their  pace  to  hers.  A  pang  of  envy 
that  was  almost  jealousy  pierced  her  heart  as  she  looked 
at  them — so  young,  so  vigorous,  and  so  blithe. 

1 06 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"I  should  be  sitting  with  Captain  Haney  on  the 
porch,"  she  thought,  with  bitterness.  "I  am  out  of 
place  here." 

The  words  which  passed  between  Bertha  and  her 
cavalier  meant  little,  but  their  glances  meant  much. 
It  was,  indeed,  a  fateful  ride.  The  liking,  the  deep  in 
terest,  born  of  their  first  meeting,  swept  irresistibly  into 
admiration.  Their  faces  turned  towards  each  other, 
youth  to  youth,  as  naturally  as  flowers  swing  towards 
the  light. 

They  fell  into  argument  over  saddles,  over  the  dif 
ference  between  his  manner  of  riding  and  her  own. 
Her  speech,  so  direct,  so  full  of  quaint  slang,  enchanted 
him,  and  Alice  soon  found  herself  the  third  party. 
And  when  they  were  for  pushing  into  a  gallop  she 
acknowledged  herself  a  clog.  Concealing  her  disgust 
of  herself  under  a  bright  smile,  she  called  out:  "Why 
don't  you  people  gallop  ahead,  and  let  me  jog  along  at 
my  own  gait?" 

"Oh  no,"  replied  Ben,  "we  don't  want  to  do  that. 
Are  you  tired?"  He  became  anxious  at  once. 

"No,  no!  Please  go!  Mrs.  Haney  wants  to  race — I 
can  see  that;  and  I'd  really  like  to  see  her  ride — she 
sits  her  horse  so  beautifully." 

"Very  well,"  Ben  acquiesced,  "we'll  take  a  run 
ahead,  and  come  back  to  you." 

Thereupon  they  set  off,  Bertha  leading  in  a  rushing 
gallop  up  a  fine  road  which  wound  along  a  ravine, 
towards  the  top  of  a  broad  mesa.  Alice,  with  slack 
rein  in  her  small  hand,  rode  slowly  on  in  the  vivid  sun 
light,  a  chill  shadow  rolling  in  upon  her  soul.  As  young 
as  her  lover  in  years,  she  nevertheless  seemed  at  the 
moment  twice  his  age.  Everything  interested  him. 
Nothing  interested  her.  He  was  never  tired  mentally 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

or  physically,  and  his  smooth,  un wrinkled  face  still  re 
flected  the  morning  sunlight  of  the  world.  "He  is  still 
the  boy,  while  I  am  old  and  wrinkled  and  nerveless," 
she  bitterly  confessed. 

When  they  returned  to  her  at  the  top  of  the  mesa, 
flushed  and  laughing,  her  pain  had  deepened  into  de 
spair.  Up  to  that  moment  she  had  checked  disease 
with  a  belief  that  some  day  she  was  to  recover  her 
health,  that  some  day  her  wrinkles  would  be  smoothed 
out  and  her  cheeks  resume  their  youthful  charm;  but 
now  she  knew  herself  as  she  was — a  broken  thing.  The 
divine  glow  and  grace  of  youth  would  never  again  come 
to  her,  while  this  vigorous  and  joyous  girl  would  grow 
in  womanly  charm  from  month  to  month.  "She  is 
going  to  be  very  beautiful,"  she  admitted;  and  even  in 
the  midst  of  her  own  discouragement  she  could  not  but 
admire  Bertha's  skill  with  the  horse.  She  rode  in  the 
manner  of  a  cowboy,  holding  her  hands  high  and 
guiding  her  horse  by  pulling  the  reins  across  his  neck. 
Ben  was  receiving  lessons  from  her — absorbed  and 
jocular. 

At  the  top  of  the  mesa  they  all  halted  to  look  away 
over  the  landscape — a  gray-green,  tumbled  land,  out 
of  which  fantastic  red  rocks  rose,  and  over  which,  to 
the  west,  the  snowy  peaks  loomed.  Ben  drew  a  deep 
breath  of  joy.  It  seemed  that  the  world  had  never 
been  so  beautiful.  "Isn't  it  magnificent!"  he  cried. 
"I  like  this  country!  Alice,  let's  make  our  home 
here." 

She  smiled  a  little  constrainedly.  "Just  as  you  say, 
dear." 

"Why  shouldn't  we,  when  the  climate  is  doing  you 
so  much  good?" 

The  horse  that  Bertha  rode  was  prancing  and  foam- 
108 


OFF  THEY  DASHED  WITH  FURIOUS  CLATTER 


MONEY   MAGIC 

ing,  eager  for  a  renewal  of  the  race,  and  Ben,  seeing 
it,  cried  out:  "Shall  we  go  round  by  the  hanging 
rock?" 

"I'm  willing!"  answered  Bertha,  her  eyes  shining 
with  excitement. 

Alice  shook  her  head.  "I  think  I'll  let  you  young 
things  go  your  own  gait,  and  I'll  poke  along  back 
towards  home." 

Ben  rode  near  her,  searching  her  face  anxiously. 
"You're  not  tired — are  you,  sweetness?" 

"No,  but  I  would  be  if  I  took  that  big  circuit.  But 
never  mind  me,  I  like  to  poke." 

"Very  well,"  he  answered,  quite  relieved,  "we'll  meet 
you  at  the  bridge."  And  off  they  dashed  with  furious 
clatter,  leaving  her  to  slowly  retrace  her  lonely  way, 
feeling  very  tired,  very  old,  and  very  sad. 

Bertha  was  perfectly,  perilously  happy.  It  was  al 
most  her  first  escape  from  the  brooding  care  and  weight 
of  Haney's  presence.  She  felt  as  she  used  to  feel  when 
speeding  away  on  swift  gallop  to  the  ranch  with  some 
companion  as  care-free  as  herself.  Since  that  fateful 
day  when  her  mother  fell  ill  and  Marshall  Haney  asked 
her  to  marry  him,  she  had  not  been  permitted  an  hour's 
holiday.  Even  when  absent  from  her  husband  her 
mind  carried  an  inescapable  picture  of  his  loneliness 
and  helplessness,  and  no  complete  relaxation  had  come 
with  her  temporary  freedom.  This  day,  this  hour,  she 
was  suddenly  free  from  care,  from  pain,  from  all 
uneasiness. 

She  considered  this  feeling  due  to  the  saddle  and  to 
the  clear  air  of  the  morning.  "I  will  ride  every  day," 
she  declared  to  Ben,  with  shining  face,  as  they  drew 
their  horses  to  a  walk.  "I  don't  know  when  I've  en 
joyed  a  ride  so  much.  I  can't  see  why  I  haven't  been 

109 


MONEY    MAGIC 

out  before.  I  used  to  ride  a  good  lot;  lately  I've 
dropped  it." 

"We'll  call  for  you  every  morning,"  he  replied.  "As 
Alice  gets  stronger,  we  can  go  up  into  the  canons  and 
take  long  rides." 

"I'll  tell  you  what  we'll  do,"  she  said;  "we'll  let 
her  ride  in  the  cart  with  the  Captain,  and  take  our 
dinner,  and  we'll  all  go  up  the  North  Canon  some  day, 
and  eat  picnic  dinner  there." 

"Good  idea,"  he  said,  accepting  her  disposition  of 
Alice  without  even  mental  dissent.  "That  will  be 
jolly  fun." 

They  planned  this  and  other  excursions,  with  no  sense 
of  leaving  any  one  behind  or  of  cutting  across  con 
ventional  boundaries.  Their  native  honesty  and  in 
nocence  of  any  ill  intention  prevented  even  a  suspicion 
of  danger,  and  by  the  time  they  joined  Alice  at  the 
bridge  they  were  on  terms  of  intimacy  and  good- 
fellowship  which  seemed  to  rise  from  years  of  long 
acquaintance.  Ben  had  promised  to  help  her  select  a 
horse,  and  she  had  agreed  to  bring  the  Captain  to  call 
on  Alice,  who  was  staying  with  some  friends  not  far 
away. 

This  change  in  Bertha's  manner  extended  to  Alice, 
who  returned  it  in  kind.  The  guilelessness  which 
shone  from  the  young  wife's  clear  eyes  was  unmis 
takable.  She  was  growing  handsome,  too.  The  flush 
of  blood  in  her  cheeks  had  submerged  her  freckles,  and 
Alice  began  to  realize  how  the  poor  child's  devotion  to 
Marshall  Haney  had  reacted  against  her  native  good 
health.  "She  is  but  a  child  even  now,"  she  thought. 

Haney  was  sitting  on  the  porch  where  they  had  left 
him,  the  collie  at  his  feet,  but  at  sight  of  them  returning 
he  rose  and  hobbled  slowly  down  the  walk,  his  heart 

no 


MONEY    MAGIC 

filled  with  tenderness  and  admiration  for  his  wife. 
He  had  never  ridden  with  her,  but  he  had  once  seen  her 
mounted,  and  one  of  his  expressed  wishes  had  been 
that  he  might  be  able  to  sit  a  saddle  once  more  and  ride 
by  her  side. 

"Come  in  and  stay  to  dinner!"  he  called,  hospitably, 
and  Bertha  eagerly  seconded  the  invitation. 

But  Alice  replied:  "I'm  pretty  tired;  I  think  I'll  go 
home.  You  can  stay  if  you  like,  Ben." 

Ben,  smitten  with  sudden  contrition,  quickly  said: 
"Oh  no;  I  will  go  with  you.  I'm  afraid  you've  ridden 
too  far." 

She  protested  against  this,  for  Bertha's  relief.  "Not 
at  all.  It's  a  good  tiredness.  It's  been  great  fun." 

And  with  promises  of  another  expedition  of  the  same 
sort  they  rode  away,  while  Bertha  and  Haney  remained 
at  the  gate  to  examine  the  new  horse. 

As  little  Mrs.  Haney  re-entered  the  house  with  her 
husband  the  day  seemed  to  lose  its  magical  brightness, 
and  to  decline  to  a  humdrum,  shadowless  flare.  The 
house  became  cold  and  gloomy  and  the  day  empty. 
For  the  first  time  since  its  purchase  she  mentally  asked 
herself:  "What  will  I  do  now?"  It  was  as  if  some  rul 
ing  motive  had  suddenly  been  withdrawn  from  her  life. 

This  empty,  aching  spot  remained  with  her  all 
through  the  day,  even  when  she  took  Haney  for  his 
drive  down -town,  and  only  disappeared  for  a  few 
moments  as  they  met  young  Fordyce  on  the  street. 
It  troubled  her  as  she  returned  to  the  house,  and  she 
was  glad  that  Williams  came  in  to  take  supper  with 
them,  for  his  talk  of  the  mine  diverted  her  and  deeply 
interested  her  husband. 

Williams  eyed  his  boss  critically.  "You're  gaining 
Captain.  You'll  soon  be  able  to  make  camp  again.'1 

in 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"I  hope  so,  but  the  doctor  says  my  heart's  affected 
and  it  wouldn't  be  safe  for  me  to  go  any  higher — for  a 
while." 

Williams  smiled  at  Bertha.  "Better  send  the 
missus,  then.  The  men  all  have  a  great  idea  of  her. 
They  say  she's  a  kind  of  mascot.  McGonnigle  asks 
me  every  time  what  she  thinks  of  our  new  shaft.  I've 
a  kind  of  reverence  for  her  judgment  myself.  They 
say  women  kind  o'  feel  their  way  to  a  conclusion. 
Now,  I'd  like  her  to  pass  judgment  on  our  work  in  The 
Diamond  Ace'' 

"I'd  like  to  go  up,"  said  Bertha.  But,  in  truth,  she 
was  no  longer  thinking  of  the  mine:  she  was  considering 
how  she  might  make  her  table  look  as  pretty  as  Mrs. 
Congdon's.  Her  first  dissatisfaction  with  her  own  way 
of  life  filled  her  mind.  "I  must  have  some  of  those 
candles,"  she  said  to  herself,  while  the  men  were  still 
intent  upon  the  mine.  Her  first  step  towards  social 
conformity  was  at  this  moment  taken. 

She  felt  herself  akin  to  these  people,  and  this  assertion, 
subconscious  and  unuttered,  brought  something  be 
tween  Marshall  Haney  and  herself.  It  was  not  merely 
that  she  was  younger  and  clearer  of  record,  but  she  was 
perfectly  certain  that  with  education  she  could  hold 
her  own  with  the  Congdons  or  any  one  else.  "If  my 
father  had  lived,  I  wouldn't  be  the  ignoramus  I  am  to 
day."  But  she  had  no  plan  for  acquiring  the  knowl 
edge  she  needed  other  than  by  reading  books.  She 
resolved  to  read  every  day,  though  each  hour  so  spent 
must  be  taken  from  her  husband,  now  piteously  de 
pendent  upon  her. 

He  managed  his  morning  paper  very  well,  but  when 
she  read  aloud  to  him  he  almost  always  went  to  sleep. 


CHAPTER  XI 

BEN    BECOMES    ADVISER    TO    MRS.    HANEY 

BERTHA  was  astir  early  the  next  morning,  and  quite 
ready  to  join  the  Fordyces  as  soon  as  breakfast 
was  over;  but  they  did  not  come.  She  waited  and 
watched  the  whole  forenoon,  and  when  at  twelve  o'clock 
they  had  neither  called  nor  sent  word,  her  day  suddenly 
sank  into  nothingness,  like  a  collapsed  balloon,  and  she 
faced  her  tasks  with  a  weakness  of  will  not  native  to 
her. 

Haney  and  Williams  were  both  down  street  discussing 
some  business  matter  with  Crego,  and  this  left  her 
hours  the  more  empty  and  unsatisfactory.  As  the 
dinner-hour  drew  near  she  drove  to  fetch  her  husband, 
hoping  for  a  glimpse  of  the  Fordyces  on  the  way,  but 
even  this  comfort  was  denied  her,  and  she  ached  with 
dull  pain  which  she  could  not  analyze. 

As  Haney  settled  himself  in  the  carriage,  he  said: 
"Well,  little  woman,  did  ye  have  a  good  ride?" 

"I  didn't  go,"  she  responded,  with  curt  emphasis. 

' '  Ye  did  not—    Why  not  ? " 

"I  had  too  much  to  do."  This  was  a  prevarication 
which  she  instantly  repented.  "Besides,  they  didn't 
turn  up." 

"I'm  sorry.  I  was  hoping  you'd  had  a  good  try  at 
the  new  horse.  Ye  must  mount  him  for  me  to  see  this 
afternoon."  Later  he  said:  "I'm  feeling  better  each 


MONEY    MAGIC 

day  now;   soon   I'll  be  able  to  take  that  trip   East. 
Do  you  get  ready  at  your  ease." 

The  thought  of  this  trip,  hitherto  so  wonderful  in  its 
possibilities,  afforded  her  no  pleasure;  it  scarcely  in 
terested  her.  And  when  another  day  went  by  with  no 
further  call  or  word  from  Ben  Fordyce,  she  began  to 
lose  faith  in  her  new-found  friends  and  in  herself. 

"They  had  enough  of  me,"  she  said,  bitterly.  "I'm 
not  their  style."  And  in  this  lay  her  first  acknowledg 
ment  of  money's  inefficiency :  it  cannot  buy  the  friends 
you  really  care  for. 

On  the  third  day  Fordyce  called  her  up  on  the  'phone 
to  say  that  Alice  had  been  ill.  "Our  ride  that  day  was 
a  little  too  much  for  her,"  he  explained,  "but  she  will 
be  all  right  again  soon.  I  think  we  can  go  again  to 
morrow.  ' ' 

This  explanation  brought  sunshine  back  into  the 
Haney  castle,  and  its  mistress  went  about  the  halls 
singing  softly.  In  the  afternoon,  as  she  and  Mart  were 
starting  on  their  "constitutional"  she  proposed  that 
they  call  to  see  how  Alice  was.  This  Haney  was  glad  to 
do.  "I  liked  the  little  woman,"  said  he;  "she's  sharp 
as  a  tack.  And,  besides,  she  listened  to  me  gabble,"  he 
added. 

Miss  Heath  was  stopping  in  the  home  of  a  friend — a 
rather  handsome  house,  in  the  midst  of  thick  shrubbery; 
and  they  found  her  wrapped  in  a  blanket  and  sitting 
on  the  porch  in  a  steamer-chair,  with  Ben  reading  to  her. 
They  were  both  instant  and  cordial  in  their  demands 
that  the  Captain  alight  and  come  in,  and  Ben  went 
down  the  walk  to  get  him,  while  Alice,  with  envious, 
wistful  eyes  answered  the  glowing  girl:  "Oh  no,  I 
don't  think  the  ride  did  me  any  harm.  I  have  these 
little  back-sets  now  and  then.  I'm  glad  you  came." 

114 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"How  thin  her  hands  are/'  thought  Bertha.  And 
she  saw,  too,  that  the  delicate  face  was  wrinkled  and 
withered. 

Reading  compassion  in  the  girl's  glance,  Alice  con 
tinued,  brightly:  "I'll  be  up  to-morrow.  I'm  like  a 
cork — nothing  permanently  depresses  me.  I'm  suf 
fering  just  now  from  an  error  of  thought!" 

Bertha  only  smiled,  and  the  gleam  of  her  teeth,  white 
and  even  as  rows  of  corn,  produced  in  her  face  the 
effect  of  innocent  humor  like  that  of  a  child.  Then  she 
said:  "I've  bought  a  new  horse." 

"Have  you,  indeed?" 

"Yes,  and  I've  been  expecting  you  to  ride  up  to  the 
line  fence  and  call  me  out — I  wanted  to  show  him  to 
you.  He's  a  cracker-jack,  all  right." 

"We'll  come  over  in  a  day  or  two.  I  never  stay 
down  more  than  three  days." 

Haney,  lumbering  round  the  corner  of  the  house, 
called  out,  mellowly:  ' '  Here  you  are !  Now  don't  move 
a  hair."  He  bent  and  offered  a  broad  white  hand. 
"How  are  ye  the  day?" 

"Better,  thank  you.  Ben,  put  a  chair  beside  me; 
I  want  to  talk  to  Captain  Haney.  He  was  interrupted 
the  other  night  in  the  very  middle  of  one  of  his  best 
stories,  and  I'm  going  to  insist  on  his  finishing  it." 

Haney  faced  Bertha  with  a  look  of  humorous  amaze 
ment  on  his  face.  "Think  o'  that,  now!  She  re 
members  one  of  my  best." 

"Indeed  I  do,  Captain,  and  I  can  tell  you  just  where 
you  left  off.  You  had  just  sighted  the  camp  of  the 
robbers." 

Haney  clicked  with  his  tongue,  as  if  listening  to  a 
child.  "There  now!  I  must  have  been  taking  more 
grape-juice  than  was  good  for  me  to  start  on  that 


MONEY    MAGIC 

story,  for  it's  all  about  meself  and  the  great  man  I 
thought  I  was  in  those  days." 

' '  I  love  to  hear  about  people  who  can  ride  a  hundred 
miles  in  a  night,  and  live  on  roots  and  berries,  and 
capture  men  who  bristle  with  revolvers.  Please  go  on. 
Ben,  you  needn't  listen  if  you  don't  want  to.  You  can 
show  Mrs.  Haney  the  automobile  or  the  garden." 

Ben  laughed.  "I  like  to  hear  Captain  Haney  talk 
quite  as  well  as  anybody,  but  I'll  be  glad  to  show  Mrs. 
Haney  any  of  your  neighbors'  things  she  cares  to  see." 

Alice  turned  to  Bertha.  "I  suppose  the  Captain's 
tales  are  all  old  songs  in  your  ears?" 

"No,  they're  mostly  all  new  to  me.  The  Captain 
never  tells  stories  to  me." 

Haney  winked.  "She  knows  me  too  well.  She 
wouldn't  believe  them." 

"Go  on,  please,"  said  Alice.  And  so  Haney  took  up 
the  thread,  though  he  protested.  "Tis  a  tale  for 
candle-light,"  he  explained. 

Ben  was  studying  Bertha  with  renewed  admiration. 
"Where  did  she  get  that  exquisite  profile?"  he  thought. 

The  story  was  again  interrupted  by  a  group  of  callers, 
among  them  Mrs.  Crego,  and  though  Alice  loyally  stood 
by  the  Haneys  and  introduced  them  boldly,  Mrs.  Crego's 
cold  nod  and  something  that  went  out  from  the  eyes 
of  her  companions  made  Bertha  suffer,  and  she  went 
away  with  a  feeling  of  antagonism  in  her  heart.  Did 
these  people  consider  her  beneath  their  respect  ? 

Haney  remarked  as  they  rode  away:  "If  black  eyes 
could  freeze,  sure  we'd  be  shiverin'  this  minute.  Did 
ye  see  Mrs.  Crego  pucker  up  when  she  sighted  us?" 

"I  did,  and  it  settled  her  for  me,"  replied  Bertha. 

The  intimacy  thus  established  between  the  Haneys 
and  the  Congdon  circle  furnished  the  gossip  of  the 

116 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"  upper  ten  "  with  vital  material  for  discussion.  Mrs. 
Crego  most  decidedly  disapproved  of  their  calling,  and 
advised  Alice  Heath  against  any  further  connection 
with  the  gambler's  wife. 

"What  good  can  it  possibly  lead  to?  It's  only 
curiosity  on  your  part,  and  it  isn't  right  to  disturb  the 
girl's  ideals — if  she  has  any." 

To  this  Alice  made  no  reply,  but  Ben  stoutly  defend 
ed  the  young  wife.  "She  would  have  been  as  good  as 
any  of  us  with  the  same  education.  The  poor  little 
thing  has  had  to  work  since  her  childhood,  and  that  has 
cut  off  all  training.  As  for  Haney,  he  isn't  a  bad  man. 
I  suppose  he  argues  that  as  some  one  must  keep  a 
gambling-house,  it  is  best  to  have  a  good  man  do  it." 

The  sense  of  being  to  a  degree  freed  from  the  ordinary 
restraints  of  social  life  made  Alice  very  tolerant.  But, 
as  it  chanced,  they  did  not  go  out  the  next  day;  indeed, 
it  was  several  days  before  they  again  rode  up  to  the 
Haney  gate.  They  found  Bertha  dressed  and  ready  for 
them  (as  she  had  been  each  morning),  and  when  she 
came  out  to  them  her  heart  was  glowing  and  her  face 
alight. 

"We've  come  to  see  the  new  horse!"  called  Ben. 

Haney  was  at  the  gate  with  a  smile  of  satisfaction 
on  his  face  when  the  horse  was  brought  round.  "There 
is  a  steed  worth  the  riding!"  he  boasted.  "I  told 
Bertie  to  get  the  best.  I  would  not  have  her  riding  a 
'  skate '  like  that  one  the  other  morning.  She'll  keep 
ye  company  this  day." 

Ben  exclaimed,  with  admiration:  "I  see  you  know 
horse-kind,  Captain!" 

"I  do,"  responded  Haney.  "And  now  be  off,  and 
remember  you  take  dinner  with  us  to-day." 

As  they  moved  away  he  took  his  customary  seat  on 
117 


MONEY    MAGIC 

the  porch  to  wait  for  their  return — patient  in  outward 
seeming,  but  lonely  and  a  little  resentful  within. 

Bertha  suggested  a  ride  up  the  Bear  Canon,  but  Ben 
was  quick  to  say:  "That  is  too  far,  I  fear,  for  Alice." 

Bertha's  glance  at  Alice  revealed  again,  but  in 
clearer  lines,  the  sickness  and  weariness  and  the  hope 
lessness  of  the  elder  woman's  face,  and  Ben's  considera 
tion  and  watchful  care  of  her  took  something  out  of 
the  ride.  The  rapture,  the  careless  gayety,  of  their 
first  gallop  was  gone. 

An  impatience  rose  in  the  girl's  soul.  With  the 
cruelty  of  youth  she  unconsciously  accused  the  other, 
resenting  the  interference  with  her  own  plans  and 
pleasures.  She  felt  cheated  because  Ben  permitted 
himself  no  racing,  no  circuits  with  her — and  yet  out 
wardly  and  in  reality  she  was  deeply  sympathetic. 
She  pitied  while  she  accused  and  resented. 

Their  ride  was  short  and  unsatisfying.  But  as  her 
guests  remained  for  luncheon — Bertha  was  learning  to 
call  it  that — the  outing  ended  in  a  rare  delight;  for 
while  "the  two  invalids"  sat  on  the  piazza,  Bertha 
showed  Ben  her  garden  and  stables,  and  the  green 
houses  she  was  building,  and  this  hour  was  one  of  al 
most  perfect  peace. 

Ben,  once  outside  Alice's  depressing  presence,  grew 
gay  and  single-minded  in  his  enjoyment  of  his  hostess 
and  her  surroundings. 

"It  must  seem  like  Aladdin  and  his  wonderful  lamp 
to  you,"  he  said,  as  they  stood  watching  the  workmen 
putting  in  the  glass  to  the  greenhouses.  "All  you 
have  to  do  is  rub  it,  and  miracles  happen." 

"That's  just  what  it  does,"  she  answered,  with 
gravity.  "I  give  myself  a  knock  in  the  head  every 
time  I  write  out  a  check,  just  to  see  if  I  am  awake;  but 

118 


MONEY    MAGIC 

I  can  see  I'll  get  used  to  it  in  time.  That's  the  funny 
thing:  a  feller  can  get  used  to  anything.  The  trouble 
with  me  is  I  don't  know  what  to  do  nor  how  to  do  it. 
I  ought  to  be  learning  things:  I  ought  to  go  to  school, 
but  I  can't.  You  see,  I  had  to  buckle  down  to  work 
before  I  finished  the  high-school,  and  I  don't  know  a 
thing  except  running  a  hotel.  I  wish  you'd  give  me  a 
few  pointers." 

"I'll  do  what  I  can,  but  I  am  afraid  my  advice 
wouldn't  be  very  pertinent.  What  can  I  help  you 
on?" 

"Well,  I  don't  know.  Alice" — she  spoke  the  word 
with  a  little  hesitation — "said  something  to  me  the 
other  day  about  charity,  and  all  that.  Well,  now,  I'm 
helping  mother's  church — a  little — and  I'm  helping  up 
at  Sibley,  but  I  don't  know  what  else  to  do.  I  sup 
pose  I  ought  to  do  some  good  with  the  money  that's 
rolling  in  on  us.  I've  got  my  house  pretty  well  stocked 
and  fitted  up,  and  I'm  about  stumped.  I  can't  sit 
down,  and  just  eat  and  sleep,  ride  and  drive,  can  I?" 
"There  are  women  who  do  that  and  nothing  else." 
"Well,  I  can't.  I've  always  had  something  to  do. 
I  like  to  play  as  well  as  the  next  one,  but  I  don't  be 
lieve  I  could  spend  my  time  here  just  sitting  around." 
"It's  no  small  matter  to  run  such  a  house  as  this." 
"Well,  there's  something  in  that;  but  the  point  is, 
what's  it  all  for?  We're  alone  in  it  most  of  the  time, 
and  it  don't  seem  right.  Another  thing,  most  of  our 
old  friends  fight  shy  of  us  now.  I  invite  'em  in,  and 
they  come,  but  they  don't  stay — they  don't  seem  com 
fortable.  They  are  all  wall-eyed  to  see  the  place  once, 
but  they  don't  say  'hello'  as  they  used  to.  And  the 
people  next  door  here — well,  they  don't  neighbor  at  all. 
You  and  the  Congdons  are  the  only  people,  except  a  few 

9  IIQ 


MONEY    MAGIC 

of  mother's  church  folks,  who  even  call.  Now,  what's 
the  matter?" 

He  was  now  quite  as  serious  as  she.  "I  suppose  your 
own  folks  feel  that  your  wealth  is  a  barrier." 

"Why  should  they?  I  treat  'em  just  the  same  as 
ever.  I'm  not  the  kind  to  go  back  on  my  friends  be 
cause  I'm  Marshall  Haney's  wife.  If  I'd  earned  this 
money  I  might  put  on  airs;  but  I  haven't — I've  just 
married  into  it." 

"How  did  you  come  to  do  it?"  he  asked,  quickly — 
almost  accusingly. 

Her  tone  again  faltered,  and  her  eyes  fell.  "Well, 
it  was  like  this:  Mother  was  sick  and  getting  old,  and  I 
was  kind  o'  tired  and  discouraged,  and  the  Captain  was 
mighty  nice  and  kind  to  us ;  and  then  I —  And  so  when 
the  word  came  that  he  was  hurt— and  wanted  me — I 
went."  Here  she  looked  up  at  him.  "And  I  did  right, 
don't  you  think  so?" 

He  was  twisting  a  twig  in  his  fingers.  "Oh  yes, 
certainly.  You've  been  a  great  comfort  to  him.  You 
saved  his  life  probably,  and  he  really  is  a  fine  man  in 
spite  of — "  He  broke  off. 

She  took  up  his  phrase.  "In  spite  of  his  business. 
I  know,  that  was  mother's  main  objection  to  him.  But, 
you  see,  he  cleaned  all  out  of  that  before  I  married  him. 
He  hasn't  touched  a  card  since." 

He  was  almost  apologetic.  "I've  been  brought  up  to 
despise  gamblers — I'm  a  Quaker,  you  know,  by  family. 
But  I  like  Captain  Haney,  and  I  can  see  that  from  his 
point  of  view  a  'straight  game,'  as  he  calls  it,  is  not  a 
crime." 

"Yes,  that's  one  good  thing  in  his  favor — he  never  let 
a  crooked  deal  pass  in  his  place.  But,  after  all,  I  can't 
forget  that  he  was  a  gambler,  and  other  people  can't, 

120 


MONEY    MAGIC 

and  his  record  is  dead  against  us  here."  Her  face  was 
dark  as  she  resumed.  "I'm  a  gambler's  wife.  Ain't 
that  so  ?  Didn't  you  hear  of  me  in  that  way  ?  Weren't 
you  warned  against  us?" 

His  honest  eyes  quailed  a  little.  "It  is  true  your 
husband  is  called  a  gambler  rather  than  a  miner." 

"Well,  he  was.  That's  right,  but  he  isn't  now. 
I'm  not  complaining  about  the  part  that  can't  be  help 
ed,  but  I  want  to  do  something  to  show  we  are  in  line 
to-day,  and  so  does  the  Captain.  We  want  to  make  our 
money  count,  and  if  you  can  tell  us  what  to  do  we'll 
be  mightily  obliged." 

The  young  Quaker  was  more  profoundly  enthralled 
by  this  unexpected  confession  of  the  girl  than  by  any 
other  word  she  could  have  uttered.  His  own  knowl 
edge  of  life  was  neither  wide  nor  deep,  and  his  sense 
of  responsibility  not  especially  keen;  and  yet  he  ex 
perienced  a  thrill  of  pleasure  and  a  certain  lift  of  spirit 
as  he  stood  looking  down  at  her — the  attitude  of  con 
fidential  spiritual  adviser  began  at  the  moment  to 
yield  a  sweet  satisfaction  as  well  as  an  agreeable  realiza 
tion  of  power.  How  much  Haney's  mines  were  pour 
ing  forth  he  did  not  know,  but  their  wealth  was  said 
to  be  enormous.  Every  day  added  to  the  potentiality 
of  this  gray-eyed  girl  who  stood  so  trustfully,  so  like  a 
pupil,  before  him. 

He  spoke  with  emotion.  "I'll  do  what  I  can  to 
advise  you  and  help  you,  and  so  will  Alice.  Allen 
Crego  is  a  good  man — he  has  your  legal  business,  I 
believe?" 

"Yes,  I  think  he's  square,  and  I  like  him.  But  I 
can't  go  Mrs.  Crego;  she  despises  us — that's  one  good 
reason."  She  smiled  faintly.  "But  it  ain't  legal 
advice  I  want — it's  something  else.  I  don't  know  what 

121 


MONEY    MAGIC 

it  is.  Our  minister  isn't  the  man,  either.  I  guess  I 
want  somebody  that  knows  life,  and  that  ain't  either 
a  lawyer  or  a  minister.  I  want  some  one  to  take  our 
affairs  in  hand.  I  need  all  kinds  of  advice.  Won't 
you  give  it  to  me?" 

He  smiled.  "I'd  like  to  help,  but  I  am  only  a  lawyer 
— and  a  very  young  one  at  that." 

"I  don't  think  of  you  as  a  lawyer;  you're  more  than 
that  to  us." 

"What  am  I,  then?" 

The  color  danced  along  her  cheek  as  she  uttered  a 
phrase  so  current  in  the  West  that  it  has  a  certain  hu 
morous  sound:  "You're  a  gentleman  and  a  scholar." 

"Thank  you.  But  I  fear  you  mean  by  that  that  I 
take  life  very  easily." 

She  grew  serious  again.  "No,  I  don't.  Anybody 
can  see  you're  honest.  I  trust  you  more  than  I  do 
Judge  Crego,  and  so  does  the  Captain.  You  can  tell 
us  things  we  want  to  know.  We  both  know  a  little 
about  business,  but  we  don't  know  much  about  other 
things.  That's  where  we  both  fall  down." 

This  frank  expression  of  regard  brought  about  a 
moment  of  emotional  tension,  and  Ben  hesitated  before 
replying.  At  last  he  said:  "I  hope  I  shall  always  de 
serve  your  confidence.  I  wish  I  had  the  wisdom  you 
credit  me  with.  I  wonder  what  I  can  tell  you?" 

"Tell  me  what  you  would  do  if  you  were  in  my  place." 

Quick  as  a  sunbeam  his  smile  flashed  out.  "Be 
your  own  good,  joyous  self.  Whatever  you  do,  don't 
lose  what  you  are  now — the  quality  which  attracted 
Alice  and  me  to  you.  Don't  try  to  be  like  other  rich 
people." 

The  sight  of  the  Captain  and  Alice  walking  slowly 
towards  them  cut  short  the  further  admission  of  his 

122 


MONEY    MAGIC 

own  careless  inexperience,  and  they  all  took  seats  be 
neath  a  big  pear-tree  which  shaded  a  semicircular 
wire  settee. 

Haney  had  been  confessing  a  little  of  his  loneliness. 
"I  will  not  believe  that  me  work  in  the  world  is  done. 
Tis  true,  I  took  very  little  care  of  me  good  days;  but 
I  was  happy  in  me  business,  such  as  it  was.  Me  little 
wife  there  saves  me  from  the  blue  divils  when  she's 
about,  but  when  I'm  alone,  sure  it's  deep  in  the  dumps 
I  go.  Sometimes  me  mind  misgives  me,  to  think  of  her 
tied  to  an  old  stump  of  a  tree  like  me !  But  maybe  she's 
right — maybe  I'm  to  recover  me  powers  and  be  of  use." 

To  this  Alice  could  only  reply,  as  comfortingly  as  she 
could:  "You've  given  her  a  good  deal,  Captain." 

"So  I  have,  but  I  mean  to  give  more.  As  soon  as 
I'm  able  to  travel  we're  going  down  the  hill  to  see  the 
world.  Sometimes  when  we  sit  on  our  porch  and  talk 
of  it,  it  seems  as  if  I  could  see  the  whole  of  the  States 
spread  out  before  us — Chicago,  Washington,  New  York, 
and  all  to  choose  from.  I  can't  get  over  the  surprise 
of  having  the  stream  of  money  keep  comin'.  I  used 
to  work  hard — you  may  not  believe  that,  but  'twas  so. 
I  used  to  have  long  days  and  nights  of  watching.  'Twas 
work  of  a  kind,  though  you  may  not  admire  the  kind. 
And  now  I  have  nothing  to  do  but  sit  and  twist  me  two 
thumbs — and  one  of  them  bog-spavined,  at  that." 

To  this  Alice  had  made  no  reply,  for  they  were  within 
earshot  of  Ben  and  Bertha.  Haney  called  out:  "Sure, 
it  must  be  near  dinner-time,  Bertie! — I  mean  luncheon, 
ma'am — I'm  lately  instructed." 

They  all  laughed  in  tune  to  his  humor,  and  Bertha 
replied:  "No  more  twelve -o'clock  dinners  for  us, 
Captain." 

Haney  groaned.  "This  fashionable  life  will  be  the 
123 


MONEY    MAGIC 

death  of  me.     Sure,  I  eat  and  talk  by  rule  a 'ready. 
Where  it  will  end  I  dunno." 

Happily  the  bell  soon  relieved  the  strain,  but  the 
talk  at  the  table  continued  to  be  very  personal — it  could 
not  be  prevented,  for  each  of  these  four  people  was  at  a 
turning-point  in  his  or  her  life.  Haney,  feeling  the  slow 
tide  of  returning  vigor  in  his  limbs,  was  in  trouble 
thinking  of  what  he  was  to  do.  Bertha,  just  beginning 
to  tremble  beneath  the  mysterious  stir  of  an  all-de 
manding  love,  was  uneasy,  feverish,  and  self-conscious. 
Alice,  sensing  the  approach  of  weakness  and  decay,  yet 
struggling  against  it,  was  inwardly  in  despair.  While 
Ben,  hitherto  careless,  facing  life  with  un wrinkled  brow, 
was  appreciating,  for  the  first  time,  the  positive  re 
sponsibilities  of  manhood.  Bertha's  expressed  wish 
to  employ  his  best  judgment  exalted  him  while  it 
troubled  him. 

For  a  time  the  burden  of  the  conversation  was  his. 
Haney  was  in  a  reflective  mood,  and  Bertha  busied 
with  the  table  service,  which  she  was  trying  to  raise  to 
the  level  of  her  honored  guests,  was  distracted.  Alice, 
tired  and  a  little  dispirited,  added  nothing  to  the  youth 
ful  spirit  of  the  meal. 

At  last,  just  when  the  conversation  seemed  about  to 
flag  out,  Haney,  lifting  his  head,  began  in  a  new  tone: 
"Mr.  Fordyce,  my  little  girl  and  I  have  decided  we 
want  you  to  take  Crego's  place  as  our  lawyer.  I  hope 
you'll  be  able  to  do  it." 

Alice  looked  up  in  surprise.  "But  you  don't  mean 
to  take  it  from  Mr.  Crego?" 

Haney's  face  grew  hard.  "I  am  under  no  obligation 
to  Crego,  and  I  prefer  to  have  as  me  lawyer  a  man  who 
can  neighbor  with  me,  and  whose  wife  is  not  above 
nodding  when  me  own  wife  passes  by." 

124 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Alice  hastened  to  defend  the  Cregos.  "You  mustn't 
be  unjust  to  Mrs.  Crego." 

"I'm  not,"  said  Haney,  "nor  to  Crego  either.  I've 
paid  for  his  time,  and  paid  well — as  I'm  willing  to  pay 
for  yours."  He  turned  to  Ben.  "I  need  advice,  and  I 
want  to  feel  free  to  go  for  it." 

Ben  replied:  "I'd  like  to  accept  your  business, 
Captain,  but  you  see  it  would  not  be  professional  for 
me  to  profit  at  the  expense  of  my  friend,  and,  besides,  I 
haven't  really  settled  here  yet." 

Haney  looked  disappointed.  "I  thought  ye  had. 
Well,  I  am  going  to  cut  loose  from  Crego  anyhow,  and 
I  shall  tell  him  why." 

Bertha  cried  out:  "No,  don't  do  that." 

He  acquiesced.  "Very  well,  then  I  won't  tell  him 
why;_but  I'm  going  to  quit  him!  So  if  you  don't 
care  to  take  on  me  business,  I'll  give  it  to  Jim  Beringer. 
It  pays  a  good  bit  of  money,  and  will  pay  more.  I'll 
make  it  profitable  to  ye." 

Alice  looked  at  Ben.  "Of  course,  if  he  is  going  to 
leave  Mr.  Crego  anyway — " 

"But  that  would  mean  making  our  permanent  home 
here,  and  setting  up  an  office." 

"Well,  why  not?  I  can't  live  in  the  East  any  more; 
that  we  have  tested.  I  am  willing  to  decide  now. 
It  would  give  you  a  start  here,  and,  besides,  I  think  you 
can  be  of  use  to  the  Captain." 

Ben  still  hesitated.  "It  seems  rather  treacherous  to 
Crego  some  way.  But  if  you  have  definitely  decided 
against  him — " 

"We  have,"  said  Bertha.  "We  talked  it  all  over 
yesterday.  We  want  you." 

Haney 's  face  was  very  grave  now.  "There  is  one 
thing  more,  Mr.  Fordyce.  Mart  Haney's  reputation 

125 


MONEY    MAGIC 

must  be  taken  into  account.  It  won't  do  you  anny 
good  to  be  associated  with  him.  I  don't  know  that  it 
will  do  you  anny  harm,  but  I'm  dom  sure  it  will  do 
you  no  good  to  be  associated  with  me." 

Alice  interposed,  quickly.  "A  lawyer  can't  choose 
his  clients — at  least,  a  young  lawyer  can't." 

Haney  ignored  the  implications  of  her  speech.  "I'm 
not  try  in'  to  cover  up  me  tracks,"  said  he.  "I  was  a 
gambler  for  thirty  years.  Me  whole  life  has  been  a 
game  of  chance.  There  are  many  who  think  gambling 
one  of  the  high  crimes  an'  misdemeanors,  but  I  think 
a  square  game  between  men  is  defensible.  I  am  a 
gambler  by  nature.  Why  shouldn't  I  be  ?  I  grew  up 
a  fat  squab  of  a  boy  rollin'  about  on  the  pavin '-stones 
of  Troy.  'Twas  all  luck,  bedad,  whether  I  lived  or  died. 
I  lived,  it  fell  out,  and  when  I  had  learned  to  read  I  read 
wild- West  stories.  Of  course,  that  led  me  to  go  West 
and  jine  the  Indians,  and  by  stealin*  rides  and  beggin' 
me  bread  I  reached  Dodge  City.  'Twas  all  chance  that 
I  didn't  die  on  the  way.  Me  mother,  poor  soul,  was 
worried  and  I  knew  it,  and  finally  I  put  me  fist  to  it  and 
wrote  her  a  letter  to  say  I  was  all  right.  She  wrote 
beggin'  me  to  return,  which  I  did  a  couple  of  years 
later;  but  Troy  was  too  slow  for  me  then,  and  again 
I  pulled  out.  I  was  always  takin'  risks.  Danger  was 
me  delight.  I  had  no  trade,  but  I  had  faith  in  me  luck. 
I  won — I  almost  always  won.  And  so  I  came  to  be  a 
gambler  along  with  bein'  sheriff  and  city  marshal,  and 
the  like  o'  that,  in  one  mountain  town  or  another,  but 
I  always  played  fair.  A  man  who  plays  a  square  game 
is  a  gambler.  The  man  who  deals  underhand  is  a 
crook.  I'm  no  crook.  I  love  the  game.  To  know 
that  the  cards  are  stacked  against  the  other  player 
takes  all  the  fun  out  of  the  deck  for  me.  I  want  the 

126 


MONEY    MAGIC 

other  felly  to  have  an  equal  chance  with  me — else  'tis 
no  game,  but  a  hold-up.  No  man  ever  rightfully 
accused  me  of  dealing  against  him.  Yes,  'tis  true,  me 
world  is  a  world  of  risk."  He  looked  at  Alice.  "Sure, 
the  Look-Out  up  above — if  there  is  such — is  there  to 
see  that  we  all  have  a  show  for  our  ace.  If  anything 
interferes  with  that  the  game  is  a  crooked  one." 

Alice  began  to  perceive  something  big  and  admirable 
in  this  man's  spirit.  She  was  not  of  his  faith — quite 
the  contrary.  She  was  a  fatalist.  Nothing  happened  in 
her  world.  But  she  was  imaginative  enough  to  under 
stand  his  point  of  view. 

Haney  went  on.  "I  know  all  the  tricks.  I  lairned 
them,  not  to  use  in  the  game,  but  to  keep  them  out 
of  the  game.  I  had  too  much  faith  in  me  luck  to  ever 
weaken." 

"Did  you  never  lose?"  asked  Ben. 

"Many  the  time,  indeed,  but  only  for  a  short  streak. 
Take  this  mine,  for  instance.  A  man  comes  into  me 
house  full  of  confidence  in  himself,  plays,  and  goes  broke. 
The  fury  of  the  game  bein'  in  him,  he  says :  'I'll  put  me 
prospect  hole  against  five  hundred  dollars.'  'Roll  the 
wheel,'  says  I,  and  I  won  his  hole  in  the  ground. 
'Twas  me  luck.  That  prospect  turned  out  a  mine.  'Twas 
his  luck  to  lose.  He  was  a  full-grown  man;  he  knew 
the  game  and  went  into  it  with  his  eyes  open.  Truth 
was,  he  considered  the  mine  a  'dead  horse,'  and  was 
hopin'  to  take  a  fall  out  o'  me.  Me  little  girl  here  is 
disturbed  about  the  way  the  mine  came  to  us,  but  she 
needn't  be.  'Twas  all  in  the  game.  I'm  sayin'  'twas 
in  the  game  that  another  crazy  fool  should  blow  me  to 
pieces — I  don't  complain.  I  take  me  chances.  Now" 
—here  he  faced  Ben,  and  his  grave  tone  lightened — "as 
I  understand  it,  you're  not  a  rich  man?" 

127 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Ben  flushed  a  little.  "No,  I  haven't  earned  much 
so  far;  but  it's  up  to  me  to  get  busy." 

"And  ye  expect  to  marry  soon?" 

This  question  sent  a  thrill  to  the  heart  of  each  of  the 
three  young  people  listening — a  thrill  of  fear,  of  doubt. 
And  Ben  said,  slowly,  perceiving  Haney's  fatherly  good 
will:  "Yes,  we  expect  to  set  up  housekeeping,  as  the 
old-fashioned  people  say,  as  soon  as  Alice  is  a  little 
stronger." 

"Very  well,  then,"  Haney  went  on  like  one  who  has 
made  his  point,  "here's  your  chance.  Your  fee  with 
me  will  pay  your  coal  bills  annyway.  We're  likely  to 
take  a  good  dale  of  your  time,  but  you'll  lose  nothing 
by  that." 

Bertha,  with  big  yearning  eyes  fixed  upon  Ben's 
face,  waited  in  a  quiver  of  hope  as  he  replied:  "Of 
course,  Captain  Haney,  I  can't  subscribe  to  your  de 
fense  of  gambling,  and  if  you  were  still  a  gambler,  in 
the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  I  couldn't  accept  this 
position,  for  it  is  something  more  than  legal.  But  as 
you  have  given  up  all  connection  with  cards  and  liquor 
selling,  I  see  no  reason  why  I  should  not  accept  your 
offer — provided  I  can  be  of  service  in  the  manner  you 
expect."  He  looked  across  the  table  at  Bertha,  and 
reading  there  the  same  entreaty  which  she  had  ex 
pressed  in  the  garden,  he  added,  firmly  and  definitely: 
"Yes,  I  will  accept,  and  be  very  much  obliged  to  you." 

Haney  extended  his  hand,  and  they  silently  clasped 
palms  in  the  compact. 

They  parted  in  a  glow  of  mutual  confidence  and 
liking,  and  Alice's  voice  quivered  as  she  thanked  their 
host.  "I  think  it  very  fine  of  you,  Captain  Haney. 
This  may  be  the  means  of  establishing  Mr.  Fordyce  in 
business  here." 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

His  eyes  twinkled  in  reply.  "I  will  do  all  I  can  to 
help  him,  for  he  takes  me  eye." 

Ben's  last  glance  and  the  pressure  of  his  hand  left  in 
Bertha's  brain  a  glow  which  remained  with  her  all  the 
rest  of  the  day,  and  she  carolled  like  a  robin  as  she  trod 
her  swift  way  about  the  house. 

The  next  morning,  as  they  sat  at  breakfast,  Mart 
briskly  said:  "Well,  little  woman,  I've  decided,  now 
that  I  have  a  man  I  can  trust  with  me  business,  to 
make  the  trip  East.  As  soon  as  he  has  the  mines  in 
hand  we'll  start.  Can  you  be  ready  to  go  Monday 
week?" 

' ' Sure  thing,"  she  answered,  quickly.  But  even  as  she 
spoke  a  nameless  pang  that  was  neither  joy  nor  exulta 
tion  shot  through  her  heart.  For  the  first  time  she 
realized  that  she  had  lost  her  keen  desire  to  explore  the 
glittering  plain  which  lay  below  her  feet.  A  fairer 
world,  a  perfectly  satisfying  world,  was  opening  before 
her  in  the  high  country  which  was  her  home. 


CHAPTER  XII 

ALICE    HEATH    HAS    A    VISION 

THIS  change  of  legal  adviser,  while  very  important 
to  Ben  Fordyce  and  the  Haneys,  did  not  seem  to 
trouble  Allen  Crego  very  much.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
he  was  about  to  run  for  Congress,  and  had  all  the  busi 
ness  he  could  attend  to  anyway.  He  liked  the  young 
Quaker,  and  responded  "  All  right  "  in  the  frank  West 
ern  fashion,  sending  the  Haneys  away  quite  as  solidly 
friendly  as  before.  To  Ben  he  was  most  cordial. 
"I'm  glad  you're  going  to  settle  here,  and  I'm  specially 
glad  you've  got  a  retainer;  for  the  field  is  overcrowd 
ed,  and  it  may  take  a  long  time  for  you  to  get  a 
place.  We  old  fellows  who  came  down  along  with  the 
pioneers  have  an  immense  advantage.  I  wish  you 
every  success."  And  he  meant  it. 

Only  when  he  got  home  to  Mrs.  Crego  did  he  come 
to  realize  what  a  horrible  injury  he  had  permitted  "a 
young  and  inexperienced  Eastern  boy"  to  do  himself. 
"This  connection  will  ostracize  them  both,"  his  wife  said. 

He  answered  a  little  wearily.  "Oh,  now,  my  dear, 
I  think  you  take  your  social  Medes  and  Persians  too 
seriously.  We  lawyers  can't  afford  to  inquire  into  the 
private  affairs  of  our  clients  too  closely — especially  if 
they  are  derived  from  the  pioneer  West.  Ben  Fordyce 
doesn't  become  responsible  for  Haney's  past;  it  is  a 
business  and  not  a  social  arrangement." 

130 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"That's  like  a  man,"  she  responded;  "they  never 
see  anything  till  it  bumps  their  noses.  They've  both 
called  on  the  Haneys  and  gone  riding  with  them — or 
with  the  girl.  They've  even  eaten  luncheon  there!" 

"How  dreadful!     Mrs.  Crego,  you  shock  me!" 

"If  any  evil  comes  of  this — and  there  will  be  sorrow 
in  it — you'll  be  morally  responsible.  In  the  old  days 
it  didn't  matter,  but  now  nobody  who  is  anybody  in 
this  town  can  associate  with  people  like  the  Haneys 
and  not  be  hurt  by  it." 

The  judge  ceased  to  smile.  "Now,  let  this  end  the 
discussion.  Fordyce  has  sense  enough  to  take  care 
of  himself.  He's  just  the  man  for  Haney — he  has  time, 
good  nature,  and  splendid  connections.  I  am  glad  to 
be  rid  of  the  business,  and  I  am  delighted  to  think  this 
young  fellow  has  pleased  Haney — " 

"It  isn't  Haney.  Don't  you  see?  It's  that  girl. 
She  has  urged  it — I'm  perfectly  sure." 

"Stop  right  there!"  he  commanded,  sharply.  "I 
don't  want  to  hear  a  word  of  your  insinuations.  I'm 
tired  of  them.  I'm  ashamed  of  you."  And  he  took  up 
his  paper  and  walked  away  from  her. 

She  was  defeated  at  the  moment,  but  hurried  to  the 
Congdons  with  her  news.  Lee  looked  quite  serious 
enough.  "  I  don't  believe  I  like  that  either.  What  do 
you  think,  Frank?" 

"All  depends  on  Ben.  If  he  makes  it  a  business  deal 
and  keeps  it  so  all  right;  if  he  don't,  it  may  go  against 
him  in  the  town,  as  Helen  says." 

"Don't  you  think  you'd  better  go  see  him  and  have 
a  talk?" 

"Nixie!"  he  answered,  in  swift  negation.  "Little 
Willie  don't  want  to  tackle  that  delicate  job.  I'm 
subtle,  but  not  so  subtle  as  that.  Alice  Heath  knows  all 


MONEY    MAGIC 

we  know  and  more,  and  you  can  bet  they've  talked  the 
whole  thing  over." 

"But  they  may  not  realize  the  position  of  the 
Haneys." 

"They  may  not;  but  I  suspect  they  think  they  can 
carry  any  connection  they  choose  to  make,  and  I  mostly 
think  they  can — ten  generations  of  Quaker  ancestry— 

"But  the  people  there  don't  know  their  ancestry." 

"Well,  go  talk  to  them.  I  abdicate.  Besides,  I  like 
the  Haneys." 

Mrs.  Crego  now  laid  her  joker  on  the  table.  "Here's 
the  point.  That  girl  is  taken  with  Ben — it's  all  her 
plan." 

Congdon  started.  "Sh!  Don't  say  that  out  loud, 
Nell.  That  little  wife  is  true  as  steel." 

"I  don't  care.     My  prophetic  soul — " 

Lee  put  in.  "Prophetic  pollywogs!  Why,  Helen, 
the  girl  is  as  simple  and  straightforward  as  a  boy  of 
twelve." 

"She  seems  that  way,  but  I  could  see  she  was  won 
derfully  attracted  by  Ben  and  his  singing  that  night 
here." 

"That  may  be;  so  was  I.  Anyhow,  I  agree  with 
Frank:  it  would  be  cruel  to  say  such  a  thing — even  if 
it  were  so,  which  I  don't  for  an  instant  believe.  At  the 
same  time,  I  admit  the  connection  will  make  talk  and 
may  create  a  prejudice.  Maybe  we'd  better  see  Ben." 
She  looked  at  her  husband. 

He  waved  a  protesting  finger  before  his  face.  "Npt 
on  your  life!  Ben  and  I  are  friends.  I  like  him  im 
mensely — too  much  to  think  of  running  such  a  fright 
ful  risk  of  offending  him.  If  you  interfere  you  do  so 
at  your  own  peril." 

Lee  finally  acquiesced  in  his  judgment,   and   Mrs. 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Crego  went  home  more  deeply  troubled  than  her  ac 
quaintance  with  Alice  Heath  would  seem  to  warrant. 
" Helen's  an  estimable  person,"  said  Frank  Congdon, 
"and  on  the  whole  I  like  her;  but  I  wish  she  didn't  take 
quite  so  much  evil  for  granted." 

So  as  no  one  warned  Ben  Fordyce,  he  went  gayly 
forward  and  hired  a  couple  of  nice  rooms  in  a  sightly 
block,  and  hung  out  a  gilded  sign.  "I  am  a  citizen  of 
Colorado  now,"  he  said  to  the  Captain  and  Bertha 
the  first  time  they  called  at  his  office. 

Alice  was  there,  and  they  were  deep  in  discussion  of 
the  merits  of  a  pile  of  new  rugs  which  were  to  match 
the  wall-paper.  Ben  stoutly  stood  for  the  "ox-blood" 
and  she  for  the  ' '  old  gold. ' '  Ben  explained.  ' '  The  entire 
extravagance  of  this  office  is  due  to  her."  He  pointed 
an  accusing  finger  at  Alice,  who  nodded  shamelessly. 
"I  was  all  for  second-hand  stuff,  both  for  economy's 
sake  and  to  show  I'd  been  in  practice  a  long  time." 

"You'd  need  a  battered  second-hand  set  of  whiskers 
to  match,"  she  replied,  and  they  all  laughed  at  the 
notion.  "No,  Captain,  being  sure  Ben  couldn't 
deceive  anybody  as  to  his  age  and  experience,  I  argued 
for  signs  of  prosperity.  New-born  success  has  its 
weight,  you  know." 

"Sure  it  has." 

"People  like  silken  rugs  and  mahogany  furniture, 
even  in  the  West." 

"They  do,"  Haney  agreed. 

Bertha,  standing  silently  by,  was  vaguely  resenting 
Alice's  presence.  This  feeling  was  not  defined,  but  it 
was  strong  enough  to  darken  her  face  and  take  the 
sparkle  out  of  her  eyes.  She  would  have  liked  to  do 
this  work  of  fitting  up  his  rooms;  and  he,  on  his  part, 
saw  that  she  was  in  sombre  mood,  and  sought  oppor- 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

tunity  to  come  to  where  she  stood.  "I'm  being  con 
gratulated  on  all  sides  for  becoming  a  citizen  of  Colo 
rado.  It's  quite  like  being  initiated  into  some  new 
club.  In  an  Eastern  town  they'd  let  me  jolly  well 
alone.  I'm  going  to  like  it  immensely,  I  know,  and 
it's  really  due  to  you." 

She  found  words  difficult  at  the  moment.  His  face 
and  voice  dazzled  her  like  an  open  door  towards  sun 
shine,  and  after  a  moment's  pause  she  looked  round  the 
room,  saying:  "It's  going  to  be  fine." 

"I  want  it  comfy,  so  that  you  and  the  Captain  will 
feel  like  coming  down  often.  We  have  a  great  deal  to 
talk  over  before  I  shall  really  have  a  full  understanding 
of  your  affairs.  I'm  going  to  bone  into  my  books  hard," 
he  added,  boyishly.  "To  tell  the  truth,  I've  taken  life 
pretty  easy.  You  see,  my  father  left  me  a  regular  in 
come,  big  enough  to  support  me  while  I  was  studying 
law,  but  not  enough  to  marry  on."  She  couldn't  have 
told  why,  but  this  subject  troubled  her  and  confused 
her.  She  turned  away  again  as  he  continued:  "Alice 
has  a  little,  not  much,  in  her  own  right,  and  so  it 
is  really  up  to  me  to  settle  down  and  get  to  work. 
Please  don't  think  you  are  taking  the  time  of  a  rich  and 
busy  man  like  Crego.  I  am  very  grateful  to  you.  It 
will  enable  us  to  plan  a  home  here  in  the  West." 

Again  that  keen  pang  went  through  her  heart,  and 
he,  looking  towards  Alice,  so  worn  and  drooping,  was 
touched  with  dismay,  almost  fear. 

She  was  talking  to  the  Captain,  but  was  furtively 
watching  Bertie  and  Ben.  "How  erect  and  radiant 
and  happy  they  are,"  she  thought,  and  a  doubt  of  the 
girl  came  into  her  mind.  "She  is  so  untrained  and  so 
young!"  And  in  this  mental  exclamation  she  put  her 
first  fear  that  Ben  might  find  his  position  as  legal  ad- 

134 


MONEY    MAGIC 

viser  complicated  by  the  admiration  of  the  Captain's 
wife. 

Something  weirdly  intuitive  had  come  to  Alice 
Heath  in  these  later  years.  As  her  health  declined 
and  her  flesh  purified,  she  had  come  to  possess  uncanny 
powers  of  vision,  and  at  times  seemed  to  read  the  very 
innermost  thoughts  of  those  about  her.  The  loss  of  her 
beauty,  which  had  been  exquisite  as  that  of  a  rose, 
had  made  her  morbid — which  she  knew  and  struggled 
against.  She  forecast  the  future,  and  this  is  disquiet 
ing  to  any  one.  "Here  at  this  moment,"  she  often 
said  to  herself,  "my  world  is  flooded  with  sunshine — a 
static  world  in  appearance.  But  how  will  it  be  ten 
years  from  now?  The  clock  ticks,  the  sun  passes,  the 
universal  sway  of  death  extends."  With  the  same 
acuteness  with  which  she  read  other  minds  she  read 
her  own;  but  knowing  that  such  imaginings  were 
unnatural  and  distressing,  she  fought  against  them; 
yet  they  came  in  spite  of  herself.  And  the  picture  of 
Bertha  standing  there  beside  Ben  filled  her  with  a 
prophetic  vision  of  what  the  girl- wife  was  to  become: 
"She  will  grow  in  grace  and  in  dignity,  in  understand 
ing.  She's  of  good  stock.  She's  like  a  man  in  her 
power  to  raise  herself  above  lowly  conditions.  Why 
are  there  not  female  Lincolns?  There  are,  and  she  is 
one  of  them.  Nearly  all  our  great  men  were  born  and 
reared  under  conditions  ruder  than  those  which  sur 
rounded  this  girl.  Why  can't  she  rise?  She  will  rise 
— and  then—" 

She  did  not  pursue  the  clew  further,  for  the  Captain 
was  speaking.  "And  you,  miss,  can  be  of  just  as  great 
service  to  me  wife.  She's  alone  with  me  here  in  this 
town,  and  I'm  a  heavy  load  for  her  to  carry.  I  am  so. 
Now  that  her  house  is  in  order  the  days  are  long.  The 

i3S 


MONEY    MAGIC 

people  she'd  like  to  know  don't  drop  in,  and  I  suspect 
it's  because  she's  Mart  Haney's  wife." 

She  resumed  her  sprightly  manner.  "Oh  no;  I'm 
afraid  if  she  were  a  poor  girl  she'd  find  these  same 
people  still  more  indifferent." 

"True,  miss.  But  would  they  act  the  same  if  she 
were  Mart  Haney's  widow?" 

She  flashed  a  deep-piercing,  wondering  glance  at  him. 
"Ah,  that  would  be  different.  And  yet,"  she  hastened 
to  say,  "that  would  not  make  her  acceptable  to  the 
really  best  people." 

"What  would,  miss?"  he  asked,  simply.  "I'm  a 
rough  man,  and  I've  led  a  rough  life.  I  begin  to  see 
things  now  that  I  never  saw  before.  What  would  give 
Bertha  standing  among  the  people  you  speak  of?" 

"Education,  character.  By  character  I  mean  she 
must  be  a  personality." 

"That  she  is!"     He  was  emphatic  in  this. 

"She  certainly  is  a  fascinating  girl,  and  she  promises 
to  be  a  still  more  interesting  woman." 

"I'm  not  a  wooden-head,  miss.  As  a  gambler,  it  was 
me  business  to  read  men's  faces.  I  see  more  than  my 
little  girl  gives  me  credit  for.  I  think  I  know  why 
Mrs.  Crego  can't  see  us  as  we  pass  by,  and  I  was  wise  to 
them  friends  of  yours  the  other  day  when  they  curled 
their  tails  and  showed  their  teeth  at  sight  of  us.  It's 
because  Bertie  is  the  wife  of  a  gambler.  Isn't  that  so, 
now?" 

She  rose  with  a  start,  for  Bertha  was  coming  towards 
them.  "Hush!  don't  talk  about  it  any  more  —  at 
present."  And  at  this  moment  there  passed  before  her 
eyes  a  vision  of  this  big  man,  crushed  and  writhing  on 
a  mountain-side,  among  deep  green  ferns.  It  lasted 
but  an  instant,  like  the  memory  of  an  event  in  child- 

136 


MONEY    MAGIC 

hood;  a  spot  transient  as  a  shadow  —  disconnected, 
without  precursor  or  sequence;  like  a  cloud  over  the 
wheat  it  gloomed  a  moment  and  was  gone,  and  she 
gave  herself  up  to  the  influence  of  the  sunny  room  and 
Ben's  joyous  plans. 

This  vision  came  back  to  her  when  she  was  alone  in 
her  own  room  an  hour  later,  and  stayed  with  her  per 
sistently.  What  did  it  mean?  Did  it  presage  an 
accident  to  him,  or  had  it  arisen  from  a  vague  knowl 
edge  of  the  cause  of  his  wounding  ? 

This  singular  and  distressing  rule  governed  her 
dreams  of  the  future.  They  were  all  of  sorrow,  death, 
physical  calamities;  never,  or  very  rarely,  of  health  and 
happiness;  therefore ,  she  seldom  spoke  of  them.  "Suf 
ficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof,"  her  father  was 
wont  to  say,  and  she  had  come  to  the  same  conclusion. 
Besides,  her  faith  in  her  predictive  dreams  was  by  no 
means  fixed.  She  had  reached  but  one  comforting  con 
clusion,  and  that  was  negative.  If  no  vision  came  to 
reveal  the  future  of  any  friend,  she  rested  secure  in  the 
belief  that  he  or  she  at  least  was  to  be  free  of  disaster. 
It  was  a  sweet  and  comforting  fact  to  remember  that 
no  vision  of  Ben's  future  had  ever  entered  her  con 
sciousness.  She  did  not  even  dream  of  him.  And  this 
was  still  more  wonderful,  for  she  had  always  understood 
that  those  we  love  are  ever  in  our  thoughts  in  slumber. 

For  some  reason  the  day  had  been  most  wearing,  and 
to  dress  for  dinner  was  an  effort.  But  she  made  herself 
as  lovely  as  she  could  for  Ben's  sake — and  for  the  sake 
of  the  Congdons  with  whom  they  were  to  dine.  "We 
are  to  be  alone,"  Lee  had  'phoned,  "for  I  want  to  talk 
with  you  like  a  Dutch  aunt." 

Alice  knew  as  well  as  if  Lee  had  spoken  it  what  was 
coming.  They  were  going  to  protest  against  Ben's 


MONEY    MAGIC 

intimacy  with  the  Haneys.  And  as  soon  as  they  were 
in  their  carriage  she  warned  Ben.  "You  want  to  be 
on  your  guard  to-night.  The  Congdons  are  going  to 
advise  you  against  accepting  this  retainer  from  Captain 
Haney." 

He  was  too  happy  to  do  more  than  jokingly  reply: 
"Too  late!  Bribe  is  in  hand,  and  money  mostly  spent. 
What  I  want  to  ask  you  is  more  important.  When 
are  we  to  start  our  '  love  in  a  cottage '  idyl  ?  It  really 
looks  possible  now.  Isn't  it  beautiful  to  think  we  can 
really  keep  house  out  here  and  pay  our  way?" 

"Oh,  Ben!" — there  was  a  wail  in  her  voice — "I  don't 
seem  to  gain  as  I  should!  I'm  completely  tired  out 
to-night." 

He  was  all  concern  instantly,  and  putting  his  arm 
about  her,  tenderly  exclaimed:  "Dear  heart,  it  was 
my  fault.  You  shouldn't  have  gone  down  at  all." 

"But  don't  you  see  how  revealing  it  is?  If  I  can't 
go  down  to  your  office  to  superintend  the  arrangement 
of  a  few  rugs  and  chairs,  how  can  I  keep  a  house — your 
house — in  order?  No,  dear  boy,  we  mustn't  think  of 
it — not  now;  perhaps  by  spring,  but  certainly  not  now." 

He  was  both  saddened  and  perplexed,  and  yet  his 
disappointment  was  not  so  keen  as  it  had  been  when 
she  had  put  off  their  wedding-day  the  first  time,  and 
when  she  turned  a  white,  despairing  face  up  to  him, 
saying  wildly:  "Oh,  Benny,  why  don't  you  give  me 
up  and  marry  some  nice  young  girl?"  He  only  took 
her  in  his  arms  and  shut  her  lips  with  a  kiss. 

"No  more  such  talk,"  he  said;  "you're  tired  and  a 
little  morbid.  Lee's  lecture  will  do  you  good.  I  hope 
she  gets  after  you  for  letting  yourself  down  into  these 
detestable  moods." 

Signs  of  their  troubled  ride  were  on  their  faces  as 
138 


MONEY    MAGIC 

they  entered  the  Congdon  sitting  -  room  (which  also 
served  as  hall),  and  Lee  put  her  arm  about  her  guest 
with  compassion  uppermost  in  her  heart.  "You 
don't  look  a  bit  well  to-night.  What  have  you  been 
doing?" 

"Nothing.  That's  the  worst  of  it.  If  I'd  been  scrub 
bing  floors  or  cleaning  silver  I'd  feel  that  I  had  a  right 
to  be  tired,  but  I've  only  been  down  to  Ben's  new  office 
overseeing  the  laying  of  three  rugs.  I  didn't  lift  a 
hand,  and  now  look  at  me!" 

When  they  were  in  the  privacy  of  Lee's  dressing- 
room  the  hostess  studied  her  guest  critically.  "You've 
something  on  your  mind,"  she  announced. 

"I  always  have  something  on  my  mind." 

"I  know  you  do,  and  if  you're  ever  going  to  get  well 
you  must  get  it  off  your  mind.  Do  I  know  what 
it  is?" 

"If  you  don't,  you  ought  to.  Since  this  retainer  from 
Captain  Haney,  Ben  is  urging  an  immediate  marriage." 

Lee  Congdon  was  an  unconquerable  realist  and  truth- 
teller,  and  she  could  not  at  the  moment  utter  any  other 
than  a  divergent  word.  "We  got  you  here  to-night  to 
talk  over  that  Haney  business.  We  don't  entirely 
like  it;  at  least,  I  don't.  Frank  has  no  responsibility, 
never  had.  Haney  is  not  a  bad  man,  and  she  isn't  a 
bit  low  or  common;  but  folks  think  she  is.  And  it's 
going  to  hurt  you  both,  I'm  afraid,  to  have  anything 
to  do  socially  with  them." 

"Oh,  socially!"  Alice  cried,  in  disgust.  "I  thought 
we  were  coming  to  the  big  and  boundless  West,  where 
such  things  don't  count." 

"You  have,  and  you  haven't.  The  Springs  is  a 
little  of  the  West,  a  little  of  England,  and  a  good  deal 
of  the  East.  It's  a  foolish  town  in  some  ways,  and 

139 


MONEY   MAGIC 

I  warn  you  lots  of  nice  people  will  find  it  inconvenient 
to  call  on  you  for  fear  of  meeting  Mrs.  Haney." 

"Oh,  rats!" 

"Absurd,  isn't  it?  I'm  glad  you  put  on  that  dress. 
You  don't  look  tired  now;  your  cheeks  are  blazing." 

"With  wrath— not  health." 

"At  me?" 

"Oh  no.  At  these  people  who  assume  to  dictate 
whom  we  shall  know." 

"They  don't  do  that,  dear;  they  only  think  you're 
paying  too  much  for  Ben's  new  office.  But  come  down 
to  dinner;  we'll  fight  this  out  later." 

Congdon  was  outspoken  in  his  admiration.  "By  the 
Lord,  the  climate  is  getting  in  its  work!  Why,  Alice, 
you're  radiant.  You're  ten  years  younger  to-night!" 

"That's  because  I'm  angry." 

"What  about?" 

"Your  townspeople.  Lee  has  made  me  feel  as  if 
I  were  the  club-bar  topic  to-night." 

Congdon  became  solemn — grim  as  a  brazen  image. 
"Mrs.  Congdon,  you've  been  making  some  of  your 
tactful  remarks." 

"I  have  not.  I've  been  talking  straight  from  the 
shoulder,  as  I  advise  you  to  do." 

He  capitulated.  "After  the  turkey.  Come  on,  Ben, 
we're  in  for  a  lecture  by  the  Professor-Doctor  Lee 
Congdon." 

Under  the  influence  of  his  humor  they  took  seats 
about  the  pretty,  candle-lit  table  as  gay  a  group  as  the 
city  held — apparently;  for  Alice  was  of  that  tempera 
ment  which  responds  quickly  and  buoyantly  to  humor, 
and  Frank  Congdon  never  took  anything  quite  seriously 
— except  his  portrait-painting.  He  could  do  a  cake- 
walk  with  any  one ,  but  he  would  not  discuss  art  with  the 

140 


MONEY   MAGIC 

unsympathetic.  He  always  had  a  new  story  to  tell  of 
his  amazing  experience.  Something  was  always  hap 
pening  to  him.  Other  men  come  and  go  up  and  down 
the  whole  earth  without  an  adventure,  but  no  sooner 
does  Frank  Congdon  slip  out  of  the  door  than  the  fates 
—  generally  the  humorous  ones  —  pounce  upon  him. 
Drunken  women  claim  him  for  a  son.  Sheriffs  arrest 
him  in  the  mountains  and  transport  him  long  distances, 
only  to  find  him  the  wrong  man.  Confused  Swedish 
mothers  give  him  babies  to  hold  in  the  cars,  and  rush 
out  just  in  time  to  get  left.  And  these  tales  lose  noth 
ing  in  his  recount  of  them. 

In  the  present  instance  he  took  up  half  the  dinner- 
hour  with  a  description  of  his  latest  mishap.  A  neigh 
bor's  cook  had  suddenly  gone  mad,  and  had  charged 
him  with  putting  a  spell  over  her.  "Somebody  calls 
me  up  on  the  'phone  this  morning:  'Is  this  Frank 
Congdon?'  .  .  .  'Yes.'  .  .  .  'Hello,  Frank,  this  is  Henry. 
What  you  been  doing  to  my  cook?'  .  .  .  'What  does  she 
say  I  have?'  .  .  .  'Says  you've  hypnotized  her — put  a 
spell  over  her.'  ...  'I  pass.'  .  .  .  'Fact;  she's  crazy  as 
a  bed-bug,  and  we  can't  do  a  thing  with  her — and  she 
was  such  a  good  girl.  How  could  you,  Frank?'  ...  'I 
never  saw  the  creature  in  my  life.'  .  .  .  'Well,  you'll  see 
her  now.  You're  to  come  right  over  and  remove  this 
spell,  or  we  won't  have  any  breakfast. ' ' '  Here  Congdon 
looked  solemnly  round  at  his  guests.  "Now  wouldn't 
that  convulse  a  body  ?  I  didn't  know  her  name ;  on  my 
word,  I  couldn't  remember  how  she  looked.  But  my 
curiosity  was  roused,  and  over  I  toddled.  It  was  all 
true.  Karen  was  in  the  kitchen,  armed  with  the  jig 
saw  bread-knife  and  calling  for  me.  Henry  was  all  for 
my  appearing  suddenly  at  the  door  a  la  Svengali,  and 
with  a  majestic  wave  of  the  hand  lift  the  cloud  from 

141 


MONEY    MAGIC 

her  brain.  'Not  on  your  tintype,'  says  I;  'I  guess  this 
is  a  case  for  the  police.  If  I  put  this  spell  on  that 
hell-cat  it  must  have  been  by  "absent  treatment"  dur 
ing  sleep,  and  it's  me  to  my  studio  again.'  .  .  .  'No 
you  don't,'  said  Henry.  'You  stay  till  this  incubus  is 
cleared  away.  It  ain't  reasonable  to  suppose  that  an 
ignorant  maid  like  this  is  going  to  charge  a  complete 
stranger  with  a  crime  of  this  kind  unless — 

"'That's  what  I  say.  It  isn't  reasonable,  I  refuse 
to  believe  it.'  Just  then  something  seemed  to  break 
loose  in  the  back  part  of  the  house.  Wash-boilers 
seemed  to  be  falling  on  the  kitchen  range,  and  wild 
yells  made  Mrs.  Henry  turn  pale. 

'"That's  your  work,  monster!'  shrieked  Henry. 

'"Is  it  ?'  I  said.  ' My  opinion  is  she's  broke  into  your 
wine-cellar.  It's  you  to  the  police.' 

'"Go  calm  her.  Come,  it's  a  fine  chance  to  ex 
periment.' 

'"So  it  is — with  a  cannon.  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me 
seriously  that  she  thinks  I've  hypnotized  her?' 

"Then  he  got  down  to  business,  and  assured  me  that 
he  was  telling  the  truth.  This  interested  me,  and  I 
thought  I'd  chance  opening  the  door — particularly  as 
everything  was  quiet  inside." 

His  company  was  very  tense  now,  so  vividly  had  he 
set  the  whole  scene  before  them.  "I  opened  the  door, 
and  found  her  standing  at  the  far  side  of  the  room, 
her  hair  in  ropes  and  her  eyes  wild.  She  was  'bug 
house'  all  right.  'Karen,'  I  said,  in  my  most  hypnotic 
voice, 'I  lift  the  spell.  You  are  free.  Go  back  to  work."1 

"What  happened?"  asked  Alice,  breathless  with 
excitement. 

His  face  was  grave  and  his  voice  sad.  "Not  a  thing! 
My  Svengali  pass  didn't  work.  I  was  as  the  idle 


MONEY    MAGIC 

wind  to  her.  Therefore,  I  withdrew  and  'phoned  the 
police." 

"What  an  extraordinary  thing,"  said  Ben. 

Mrs.  Congdon  brightly  answered:  "It  would  be  for 
any  one  else,  but  I'm  so  used  to  that  now  I  don't  mind. 
Whenever  the  telephone  bell  rings  I  expect  to  hear  that 
Frank  is  sued  for  breach  of  promise,  or  arrested  for 
burglary,  or  some  little  thing  like  that.  If  he  were  only 
a  novelist  he'd  make  our  everlasting  fortune.  But  I 
know  why  he  started  this  story — he  wants  to  head  off 
my  talk  with  you  about  the  Haneys,  and  I  don't  intend 
to  let  him  do  it.  Have  you  taken  on  Haney's  legal 
business?" 

"Yes." 

"For  good  and  all?" 

"Yes.  He's  advanced  me  part  of  my  fee,  and  I've 
spent  it  for  desks,  rugs,  and  office  rent.  I  think  I  may 
say  the  offer  is  accepted." 

"I'm  sorry,"  she  said,  simply. 

Her  husband  objected.  "I  don't  see  why.  Haney 
is  a  man  of  large  means,  his  mines  are  paying  hugely, 
and  he  needs  some  one  to  look  after  the  investment 
side  of  his  income,  and  to  keep  tab  on  the  output  of  the 
mines,  and  to  be  ready  to  settle  any  legal  points  that 
may  come  up.  Ben's  just  the  boy  to  do  this." 

Lee  was  firm.  "That's  one  side  of  it.  But  these 
young  people  should  not  start  in  wrong.  Haney's  past 
is  said  to  be  criminal,  and  Mrs.  Haney  is  called  low — " 

Congdon  hotly  interrupted.  "Who  says  so?  It's  a 
lie!" 

"That's  the  talk  over  town.  It  was  all  right  for 
Crego  to  transact  their  business,  for  he  is  an  old  and 
well-known  lawyer  here;  but  it's  different  with  Ben, 
who  is  just  starting." 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Ben  laughed.  "Yes,  it  is  different.  Crego  didn't 
need  the  job,  and  I  do." 

"How  bad  do  you  need  it?"  she  asked. 

"Well,  it  makes  it  possible  for  us  to  marry  at  once 
and  settle  here."  He  looked  at  Alice  with  a  renewal 
of  the  admiration  he  had  felt  for  her  in  the  days  of  their 
dancing  feet.  She  shrank  from  his  gaze,  and  Mrs. 
Congdon  perceived  it. 

"You're  not  so  poor  as  all  that,"  she  stated  rather 
than  asked. 

"I  don't  suppose  we're  likely  to  need  bread  of  a  sort, 
but  I  don't  feel  able  to  buy  or  rent  and  keep  house — or 
I  didn't  till  Haney  made  this  offer." 

"How  did  he  come  to  make  it?" 

His  fair  skin  flushed  at  her  question,  for  he  couldn't 
quite  bring  himself  to  tell  the  whole  truth.  He  knew 
the  decision  came  from  Bertha,  and  at  the  moment, 
and  for  the  first  time,  he  saw  how  it  might  be  mis 
construed.  He  evaded  her.  "Modesty  forbids,  but  I 
suppose  it  must  come  out.  It  is  all  due  to  my  open- 
faced  Waterbury  countenance.  He  thinks  I  am  at 
once  able  and  honest." 

"There  you  have  it,  Lee.  Haney  knows  a  good  thing 
when  he  sees  it." 

Mrs.  Congdon,  putting  the  rest  of  her  lecture  aside 
for  future  use,  said:  "Well,  if  it's  all  settled,  then  I've 
no  more  to  say.  Probably  I'm  too  fussy  about  what 
the  town  thinks,  anyway." 

"Precisely  my  contention,  Mrs.  Congdon,"  replied 
her  husband. 

She  was  audaciously  frank  and  truth-seeking,  but  she 
could  not  say  to  any  one  but  her  husband  that  Little 
Mrs.  Haney,  expanding  into  a  dangerously  attractive 
woman,  was  already  in  love  with  Ben  Fordyce.  "There 

144 


MONEY    MAGIC 

are  limits  to  advice,  after  all,"  she  said  to  Frank,  when 
they  were  alone. 

"I'm  glad  you  recognize  the  limit  in  this  case,"  he 
replied,  "but  I  don't  intend  to  worry.  Ben  is  all 
right,  and  the  girl  has  got  to  have  her  tragedy  sooner 
or  later.  If  it  isn't  Ben,  it  will  be  somebody  else.  A 
wonder  it  wasn't  with  me." 

"Oh,  I  don't  know."  She  laughed.  "I  feel  very 
secure  about  you." 

"Am  I  such  a  bad  shape?"  he  asked,  with  comical 
inflection. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
BERTHA'S  YELLOW  CART 

BEN  found  his  office  a  most  cheerful  and  pleasant 
resort — just  what  he  needed.  And  each  morning 
as  soon  as  his  breakfast  was  eaten,  he  went  to  his  desk 
to  write,  to  read  his  morning  paper,  and  to  glance  at 
the  law  journals.  He  called  this  "studying."  About 
eleven  o'clock  the  Haneys  regularly  drove  down,  and 
they  went  over  some  paper,  or  some  proposal  for  in 
vestment,  or  Williams  came  in  with  a  report  of  the 
mines.  This  filled  in  the  time  till  lunch.  Not  in 
frequently  he  got  into  the  carriage,  and  they  rode  up  to 
get  Alice  to  fill  out  the  table.  In  the  afternoon  they 
sometimes  went  out  to  the  mesas,  and  it  was  this  almost 
daily  habit  of  driving  and  lunching  with  the  Haneys 
which  infuriated  Mrs.  Crego  (who  really  loved  Alice) 
and  troubled  Lee  Congdon  (who  was,  as  she  said,  frankly 
in  love  with  Ben).  Gossips  were  already  discussing  the 
outcome  of  it  all. 

"Just  such  a  situation  as  that  has  produced  a  mur 
deress,"  said  Mrs.  Crego  to  the  judge  one  night.  But 
he  only  shook  his  paper  and  scowled  under  its  cover, 
refusing  to  say  one  word  further  concerning  the  Haneys. 

Alice,  studying  Ben  with  those  uncanny  eyes  of  hers, 
saw  him  slowly  yielding  to  the  charm  of  Bertha's  per 
sonality,  which  was  maturing  rapidly  under  the  in 
fluence  of  her  love.  She  was  as  silent  as  ever,  but  her 

146 


MONEY    MAGIC 

manner  was  less  boyish.  The  swell  of  her  bosom,  the 
glow  that  came  into  her  face,  had  their  counterparts 
in  the  unconsciously  acquired  feminine  grace  of  her 
bearing.  She  was  giving  up  many  of  the  phrases  which 
jarred  on  polite  ears,  and  she  did  this,  naturally,  by 
reason  of  her  association  with  Alice.  She  saw  and 
took  on  many  of  the  little  niceties  of  the  older  woman's 
way  of  eating  and  drinking. 

At  Lee  Congdon's  suggestion,  she  abandoned  the 
cross-saddle.  It  required  a  great  deal  of  character  to 
give  up  the  free  and  natural  way  of  riding  (the  way  in 
which  all  women  rode  until  these  latter  days),  and  to 
assume  the  helpless,  cramped,  and  twisted  position  the 
side-saddle  demands;  but  she  did  it  in  the  feeling  that 
Ben  liked  her  better  for  the  change.  And  he  did.  She 
could  see  approval  in  his  eyes  when  she  rode  out  for  the 
first  time  in  conventional  riding -skirt,  looking  very 
slim  and  strong  and  graceful.  "I  can't  stand  for  the 
'hard  hat,'"  she  confessed.  "I'll  wear  a  cap  or  a 
sombrero,  but  no  skillet  for  me." 

These  were  perfect  days  for  the  girl-wife.  Under 
these  genial  suns,  with  such  companionship,  such  daily 
food,  she  rushed  towards  maturity  like  some  half -wild 
colt  brought  suddenly  from  the  sere  range  into  abun 
dant  and  peaceful  pasture,  the  physical  side  of  her 
being  rounded  out,  glowing  with  the  fires  of  youth,  at 
the  same  time  that  the  poor  old  Captain  sank  slowly 
but  surely  into  inactivity  and  feebleness.  She  did  not 
perceive  his  decline,  for  he  talked  bravely  of  his  future, 
and  called  her  attention  to  his  increasing  weight,  which 
was  indeed  a  sign  of  his  growing  inertness. 

And  so  the  months  passed  with  no  one  of  the  little 
group  but  Alice  suffering,  for  Mart  had  attained  a  kind 
of  resignation  to  his  condition.  He  still  talked  of  going 


MONEY   MAGIC 

up  to  the  camp,  but  the  doctor  and  Bertha  persuaded 
him  to  wait,  and  so  he  endured  as  patiently  as  he  could, 
and  if  he  suffered,  gave  little  direct  sign  of  it. 

Alice,  fully  alive  now  to  the  gossip  of  the  town 
(thanks  to  Mrs.  Crego),  found  herself  helpless  in  the 
matter.  She  believed  the  young  people  to  be — as  they 
were  —  innocent  of  all  disloyalty,  and  she  could  not 
assume  the  role  of  the  jealous  woman.  She  was 
frightened  at  thought  of  the  suffering  before  them  all, 
and  it  was  in  this  fear  that  she  said  to  Ben  one  day: 
"Boy,  you're  giving  up  a  deal  of  time  to  the  Haneys." 

He  answered,  promptly.     "They  pay  me  for  it." 

"I  know  they  do.  But,  dearest,  you  ought  to  take 
more  time  to  study — to  prepare  yourself  for  other 
clients — when  they  come." 

He  laughed.  "They're  not  likely  to  come  right 
away,  and,  besides,  I  do  get  in  an  hour  or  two  every 
day." 

"But  you  ought  to  study  six  hours  every  day. 
Aren't  the  traditions  of  Lincoln  and  Daniel  Webster  all 
to  that  effect:  work  all  day  with  the  ax,  and  study  in 
the  light  of  pine  knots  all  night?" 

He  took  her  words  as  lightly  as  they  were  spoken. 
"Something  like  that.  But  I'm  no  Daniel  Webster; 
I'm  not  sure  I  want  to  go  in  for  criminal  law  at  all." 

She  spoke,  sharply.  "You  mustn't  think  of  getting 
your  fees  too  easy,  Ben.  I  don't  think  any  good 
lawyer  wins  without  work.  Do  you?" 

"I  didn't  mean  that,"  he  hastened  to  say.  "You 
do  me  an  injustice.  I  really  read  more  than  you  think, 
and  my  memory  is  tenacious,  you  know.  Besides,  I 
can't  refuse  to  give  the  Haneys  the  most  of  my  time; 
for  they  are  my  only  clients,  and  the  Captain  is  most 
generous." 

148 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"The  mornings  ought  to  be  enough,"  she  hazarded. 

"I  know  what  you  mean.  I  do  go  out  with  them 
afternoons  a  good  deal,  but  I  consider  that  a  part  of 
my  duty.  They  are  so  helpless  socially.  You've 
always  felt  that  yourself." 

"I  feel  it  now,  Bennie  boy,  but  we  mustn't  neglect  all 
friends  for  them.  Other  people  don't  know  that  you 
do  this  as  a  matter  of  business,  and  of  course  you  can't 
tell  any  one ;  for  if  the  Haneys  heard  of  it  they  would  be 
cut  to  the  heart.  Do  they  put  it  on  a  business  basis?" 

"They  never  mention  it.  Bertha  isn't  given  to  talk 
ing  subtleties,  as  you  know,  and  the  Captain  takes  it  all 
as  it  comes  these  days." 

It  hurt  her  to  hear  him  speak  of  Mrs.  Haney  in  that 
off-hand,  habitual  way,  and  she  foretold  further  mis 
conception  on  the  part  of  Mrs.  Crego  in  case  he  should 
forget — as  he  was  likely  to  do — and  allude  to  "Bertha" 
in  her  presence.  But  how  could  she  tell  him  not  to  do 
that?  She  merely  said:  "I  like  Mrs.  Haney,  and  I  feel 
sorry  for  her — I  mean  I'm  sorry  she  can't  have  a  place 
in  the  town  to  which  she  is  really  entitled.  She  is  im 
proving  very  rapidly." 

"Isn't  she!"  he  cried  out.  "That  little  thing  is 
reading  right  through  the  town  library — a  book  every 
other  day,  she  tells  me." 

"Novels,  I  fear." 

"No;  that's  the  remarkable  thing.  She's  reading 
history  and  biography.  Isn't  it  too  bad  she  couldn't 
have  had  Bryn  Mawr  or  Vassar?  I've  advised  her  to 
have  in  some  one  of  the  university  people  to  coach  her. 
I've  suggested  Miss  Franklin.  I  wish  you'd  uphold 
me  in  it." 

He  had  never  told  Alice  of  the  talk  in  the  garden  that 
day,  nor  of  the  look  in  Bertha's  eyes  which  decided  him 

149 


MONEY    MAGIC 

to  assume  the  position  of  mentor  as  well  as  legal  ad 
viser,  and  he  did  not  now  intimate  more  than  a  casual 
supervision  of  her  reading.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  was 
directing  her  daily  life  as  absolutely  as  a  husband — 
more  absolutely,  in  fact;  for  she  obeyed  his  slightest 
wish  or  most  minute  suggestion.  He  withheld  these 
facts  from  Alice,  not  from  any  perceived  disloyalty  to 
her,  but  from  his  feeling  that  his  advice  to  Bertha  was 
paid  for  and  professional,  and  therefore  not  to  be  spread 
wide  before  any  one.  He  did  not  conceal  anything;  he 
merely  outlined  without  filling  in  the  bare  suggestion. 

He  not  merely  gave  his  fair  client  lists  of  books,  he 
talked  with  her  upon  them,  and  so  far  as  he  was  able 
spoke  seriously  and  conscientiously  about  them.  She 
seized  upon  his  suggestion,  and  got  Miss  Franklin,  one 
of  the  teachers  of  the  schools,  to  come  in  now  and  again 
of  an  evening  to  help  her,  and,  being  fond  of  music,  she 
bought  a  piano  and  began  to  take  lessons.  All  of  which 
(Lee  Congdon  would  have  said)  threatened  to  render 
her  commonplace  and  uninteresting;  but  Alice  Heath 
felt  quite  differently  about  that. 

"No;  the  more  that  girl  gets,  the  more  she'll  have, 
Lee.  As  Ben  says,  she's  the  kind  that  if  she  were  a 
boy  would  turn  out  a  big  self-made  man.  That's  a 
little  twisted  as  to  grammar,  but  you  see  what  I  mean. 
Sex  is  one  of  the  ultimate  mysteries,  isn't  it?  Now, 
why  didn't  I  inherit  my  father's  ability?" 

"You  did,  only  you  never  use  it.  But  this  girl 
hasn't  your  father  to  draw  from." 

"No;  but  her  father  was  an  educated  man — a  civil 
engineer,  she  tells  me,  who  came  out  here  for  one  of  the 
big  railroads.  He  was  something  of  an  inventor,  too. 
that's  the  reason  he  died  poor — they  nearly  all  do." 

"But  the  mother?" 

150 


MONEY   MAGIC 

"Well,  she's  weak  and  tiresome  now,  but  she's  by 
no  means  common.  She's  broken  by  hard  work,  but 
she's  naturally  refined.  No,  the  girl  isn't  so  bad;  it's 
the  frightful  girlhood  she  endured  in  that  little  hotel. 
I  think  it's  wonderful  that  she  could  associate  with  the 
people  she  did — -barbers  and  railway  hands,  and  all  that 
— and  be  what  she  is  to-day.  If  she  had  married  a 
man  like  young  Bennett,  for  example,  she  would  have 
gone  far." 

"She  can't  go  far  with  Haney  chained  to  her  wrist," 
said  the  blunt  Mrs.  Congdon. 

"But  think  what  will  happen  when  she  is  his  widow!" 

"And  his  legatee!" 

"Precisely." 

"She'll  cut  a  wide  swath.  She's  going  to  be  hand 
some." 

They  had  reached  a  danger-point,  for  Lee  was  on  the 
verge  of  saying  something  about  Ben's  infatuation;  but 
she  didn't,  and  Alice  knew  why  she  didn't,  for  she  asked, 
rather  abruptly:  "Won't  you  come  over  Thursday 
night?  I'm  going  to  take  the  Haneys  to  dinner  at  the 
hotel."  She  flushed  under  Lee's  gaze.  "It's  really 
Bennie's  party,  and  I'm  going  to  make  it  as  pretty  as 
I  can." 

' '  Alice ,  I  don ' t  understand  you .    Why  do  you  do  this  ?" 

"Because  I  must.  She  and  the  Captain  are  going 
East  on  a  visit,  and  Ben  wants  to  give  them  a  'jolly 
send-off,'  as  he  calls  it.  Besides,  I  like  the  girl." 

Lee  mused  in  silence  for  a  few  moments.  "I  guess 
you're  right.  Of  course  I'll  come.  Who  else  will?" 

"Several  of  Ben's  new  friends  and  the  Cregos — " 

"Not  the  missus?" 

"Yes;  she  comes  because  she's  consumed  with  curi 
osity.  Oh,  it  really  promises  to  be  smart!" 


MONEY   MAGIC 

Congdon  came  in  just  in  time  to  hear  these  words. 
"Who  promises  to  be  smart — Mrs.  Haney?" 

The  women  laughed.  "Another  person  going  about 
with  a  mind  full  of  Mrs.  Haney." 

"Well,  why  not?  I  just  passed  her  on  the  street  in 
her  new  dog-cart,  and  she  was  ripping  good  to  look  at. 
Say,  that  girl  is  too  swift  for  this  town.  You  people 
better  keep  close  to  her  if  you  want  to  know  what's 
doing  in  gowns  and  cloaks.  Did  you  ever  see  such 
development  in  your  life?  Say,  girls,  I  always  be 
lieved  in  clothes.  But,  my  eyes!  I  didn't  think  cotton 
and  wool  and  leather  could  make  such  a  change.  Who 
is  putting  her  on?" 

"The  cart  is  a  new  development,"  said  Alice.  "I 
hope  it  wasn't  yellow?" 

"Well,  it  was." 

"The  Captain  was  in  it?" 

"Not  on  your  life.  The  Captain  was  at  home  in  the 
easy-chair  by  the  fire." 

The  women  looked  at  each  other.  Then  Lee  said: 
"The  beginning  of  the  end.  Poor  old  Captain." 

Congdon  was  loyalty  itself.  "Now  don't  you  jump 
at  conclusions.  Yes,  she  pulled  up,  and  I  went  out  to 
see  her.  She  gave  me  her  hand  in  the  old  way ,  and  said ; 
'Isn't  this  a  joke.  The  Captain  ordered  it  from 
Chicago.  He  saw  a  picture  in  one  of  my  magazines  of 
a  girl  driving  one  of  these  things,  and  here  I  am.  You 
don't  think  they'll  charge  me  a  special  license,  do  you  ?' 
Oh,  she's  all  right.  Don't  you  worry  about  her.  Then 
she  said:  'What  I  don't  like  about  it  is  the  Captain 
can't  ride  in  it.  I'm  not  going  to  keep  it,'  she  said." 

"That  was  for  effect,"  remarked  Lee. 

"Don't  be  nasty,  Mrs.  Congdon.  You  can't  look 
into  her  big  serious  eyes  and  say  such  things." 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Lee  looked  at  Alice.  "Oh,  well,  if  it  comes  down  to 
'big  serious  eyes,'  then  all  criticism  is  valueless.  Aren't 
men  curious?  Character  is  nothing,  intellect  is  noth 
ing — -it's  all  a  question  of  whether  we're  good-lookin' 
or  not.  Sometimes  I'm  discouraged.  An  artist  hus 
band  is  so  hard  to  please." 

"I  didn't  use  to  be,  dovey,"  he  replied,  with  a  mis 
chievous  gleam. 

"He  means  when  he  took  me.  I'm  used  to  his  slurs. 
Just  think,  Alice,  I  accepted  this  man  fresh  from  Paris, 
with  all  his  sins  of  omission  and  commission  upon  him, 
and  now  he  reviles  me  to  my  teeth."  She  patted  the 
hand  he  slipped  round  her  neck.  "Tell  us  more  about 
Mrs.  Haney.  How  was  she  dressed?" 

"In  perfect  good  taste — almost  too  good.  She 
looked  like  one  of  Joe  Meyer's  early  posters.  Gee! 
but  she  was  snappy  in  drawing.  She  carries  that  sort 
of  thing  well — -she's  so  clean  and  nifty  in  line.  If  she 
could  have  a  year  in  Paris — wow! — well,  us  to  Fifth 
Avenue,  sure  thing!" 

"All  depends  on  what  is  at  the  bottom  of  that  girl's 
soul,"  retorted  Lee,  sententiously.  "A  light  woman 
with  money  is  a  flighty  combination.  I  don't  pretend 
to  say  what  your  little  Mrs.  Haney  is  at  bottom.  Thus 
far  I  like  her.  I  talk  about  her  freely,  but  I  defend  her 
in  public.  But,  at  the  same  time,  fifty  thousand  dollars 
a  year  is  a  corrupting  power." 

Congdon  gravely  assented  to  this.  "You're  per 
fectly  right;  that's  the  reason  I  keep  our  income  down 
to  fifteen  hundred.  I'd  hate  to  see  you  look  like  a 
ready-made  cloak  advertisement." 

Alice  rose  rather  wearily.  "Thursday  night,  you 
said?" 

"Yes;  and  I  guess,  following  the  latest  bulletin  con- 


MONEY    MAGIC 

cerning  Mr.  Haney,  we  better  put  on  our  swellest 
ginghams." 

Alice,  on  her  way  home,  continued  to  think  of  Mrs. 
Haney;  indeed,  she  was  seldom  out  of  her  mind.  And 
she  had  a  feeling  of  having  known  her  for  a  long  time — 
since  girlhood ;  and  yet  less  than  a  year  had  passed  since 
that  dinner  at  Lee  Congdon's.  Spring  was  coming; 
the  hint  of  it  was  in  the  sweet  air,  and  in  the  clear  piping 
of  a  prairie  lark  in  a  vacant  lot.  Spring!  And  how 
long  it  had  been  since  Ben  had  referred  to  their  mar 
riage!  Perhaps  he  took  it  for  granted.  "Perhaps  he 
sees  in  me  only  failing  health,  and  dares  not  speak." 

She  was  not  gaming;  that  she  knew,  and  so  did  Lee. 
She  had  stayed  too  long  in  the  raw  climate  of  her 
native  city.  "He  must  not  marry  me!"  she  despair 
ingly  cried.  "I  must  not  let  him  ruin  his  life  in  that 
way!"  And  she  sank  back  in  the  corner  of  her  carriage 
with  wrinkled,  pallid  face,  and  quivering  lips;  for 
Bertha  was  passing  up  the  avenue,  driving  a  smart- 
stepping  cob,  in  her  cart,  and  in  the  seat  beside  her,  as 
radiant  as  herself,  sat  Ben  Fordyce. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    JOLLY    SEND-OFF 

THE  Mrs.  Haney  who  came  to  Alice  Heath's  dinner 
at  the  Antlers  was  in  outward  seeming  an  en 
tirely  different  person  from  the  constrained  young  wife 
who  stepped  into  Lee  Congdon's  home  that  night  of 
her  first  dinner.  She  was  gowned  now  in  that  severe 
good  taste  which  betokens  a  high-priced  "ladies' 
tailor"  combined  with  very  judicious  criticism.  Her 
critic  she  had  found  in  Miss  Franklin,  a  young  lady 
from  the  university  who  had  passed  easily  and  na 
turally  from  teaching  history  and  etiquette  up  to  the 
higher  function  of  advising  as  to  the  cut  and  color  of 
gowns.  Bertha's  black  velvet  was  this  time  a  close- 
clasping  sheath  which  revealed  her  slender  figure,  and 
delicately  and  modestly  disclosed  the  growing  grace  of 
her  bosom.  She  wore,  too,  some  jewels  of  diamond 
and  turquoise — not  showy  (her  mentor  had  taken  great 
pains  to  warn  her  of  all  that) .  And  she  was  not  merely 
irreproachable,  she  was  radiant,  as  she  slowly  entered 
with  the  Captain,  who,  having  submitted  like  a  martyr  to 
evening  dress,  was  uneasy  as  a  colt  in  harness,  and 
more  than  usually  uncertain  of  step. 

Ben's  eyes  expanded  with  surprise  and  his  heart 
warmed  with  pride  as  he  greeted  her.  "You  are 
beautiful!"  he  exclaimed  to  her,  and  the  tone  of  his 
exclamation  as  well  as  the  words  exalted  her.  Her 


MONEY    MAGIC 

brain  filled  with  a  mist  of  gold.  She  hardly  felt  the 
floor  beneath  her  feet.  To  be  called  beautiful — and  by 
him — had  been  outside  the  circle  of  her  most  daring 
hope,  and  the  repetition  of  this  word  in  her  mind  was 
like  the  clash  of  musical  bells — entrancing  her.  Me 
chanically  she  took  her  place  at  his  right  hand,  silently, 
and  with  a  far-away  look,  listening  to  the  merry  clamor 
of  the  table.  She  hardly  knew  what  she  ate  or  what  any 
one  said — except  when  Ben  spoke  to  her.  But  she  was 
aware  of  the  Captain  down  at  Alice's  right,  and  won 
dered  vaguely  how  he  was  getting  on  with  his  napkin 
and  his  fork. 

The  first  words  that  really  roused  her  and  stopped 
the  musing  smile  on  her  lips  were  spoken  by  Ben  in 
a  lower  voice — half  -laughing,  but  tender  also.  "You 
mustn't  stay  away  too  long.  I'll  feel  as  if  I  weren't 
earning  my  salary  while  you're  gone.'* 

"I  wish  you  were  going  too,"  she  said.  She  had 
thought  this  many  times,  but  had  not  permitted  her 
self  to  utter  it.  "Why  can't  you — and  Alice — come 
with  us?" 

"I  can't  afford  it,  for  one  thing.  The  Captain  spoke 
of  it,  but  it's  out  of  the  question." 

"Hell  pay  you  wages  just  the  same." 

"I  wouldn't  want  pay.  No,  it  isn't  that;  but  Alice 
isn't  able  to  go,  and  I  can't  think  of  going  without  her." 

This  was  a  good  reason,  and  Bertha,  looking  towards 
Alice,  saw  in  her  face  the  pain  which  masks  itself  in 
color  and  movement.  The  dinner-table  was  exquisite 
and  the  company  gay,  and  Bertha  felt  herself  a  part  of 
the  great  world  of  dignity  and  beauty,  where  eating  is 
made  to  seem  a  graceful  art,  and  wine  is  only  a  bit  of 
color  and  not  a  lure.  She  vaguely  comprehended  that 
this  little  party  was  of  a  tone  and  quality  of  the  best 

156 


MONEY    MAGIC 

the  world  over — that  it  was  of  a  part  and  interfused 
with  the  dining  customs  of  London  and  Paris  and  New 
York.  "It  will  be  au  fait,"  Miss  Franklin  had  said, 
sententiously,  "for  Alice  Heath  knows." 

Mrs.  Crego,  who  sat  nearly  opposite,  stared  at  the 
girl  in  stupefaction.  "She  makes  me  feel  dowdy," 
she  had  confessed  to  Lee  in  the  dressing-room.  "Why 
didn't  you  warn  me  to  come  in  my  best  ?  Who  has  been 
coaching  her?  Alice  Heath,  I  suppose."  She  now 
wondered  as  sharply  over  the  girl's  manner;  for  Bertha, 
carried  out  of  herself  by  Ben's  word  of  praise,  felt  no 
desire  to  drink  or  to  eat,  and  her  reticence  and  the 
delicacy  of  her  appetite  conferred  a  distinction  which 
concealed  her  lack  of  small  talk,  and  protected  her  from 
the  criticism  to  which  exuberance  of  manner  ordinarily 
exposed  her. 

She  was  deeply  impressed,  too,  with  Ben's  manage 
ment  of  the  waiters,  and  with  the  ease  and  skill  with 
which  he  supported  Alice  in  carrying  forward  the  courses. 
It  was  a  revelation  of  training  which  instructed  her 
absurdly,  for  her  mind  was  quick  to  link  and  compare. 
It  leaped  so  swiftly  and  so  subtilely  along  connecting 
lines  of  thought  that  a  hint  alone  sufficed  to  set  in 
motion  a  hundred  latent  memories  and  inherited  apti 
tudes.  Her  father  had  been  a  man  of  native  refine 
ment,  and  she  possessed  unstirred  deeps  of  character, 
as  Alice  now  well  understood.  And  from  her  end  of  the 
table  she  glanced  often  at  the  sweetly  smiling  girl- 
wife  whose  beauty  abashed  Haney.  At  last  she  said 
to  him:  "Your  wife  is  very  lovely  to-night,  Captain." 

He  hesitated  a  moment;  then  replied,  slowly:  "She 
is.  She's  as  fine  as  anny  queen!"  Then  after  another 
pause,  added:  "And  the  more  shame  to  me,  being  what 
I  am!  She's  a  good  girl,  miss,  true  as  steel.  Never  a 


MONEY    MAGIC 

word  of  complaint  or  a  frown.  She  bears  with  me  like 
an  angel." 

"You're  doing  a  great  deal  for  her." 

His  face  lightened.  "So  she  says.  I  mean  to  do 
more.  I  mean  to  show  her  the  world.  That's  the  only 
comfort  I  have;  my  money  is  giving  her  nice  clothes 
and  a  home  as  good  as  anny,  and  to-night  I  feel  'tis 
giving  her  friends." 

"But  she  is  worth  while,  even  without  the  money." 

"True,"  he  quickly  said.  "But  I  take  comfort  in 
the  consideration  that  had  I  not  carried  her  away  she'd 
be  in  Sibley  Junction  this  night." 

"Sibley  Junction!  Can  this  radiant  young  creature 
sitting  there  at  the  head  of  my  table  be  the  clerk  of 
the  Golden  Eagle  Hotel?"  thought  Alice.  "Money 
is  magical!  No  wonder  we  all  work  for  it — and  wor 
ship  it!" 

The  dinner  was  both  early  and  short,  in  order  that 
Bertha  and  the  Captain  might  take  the  train  at  ten 
o'clock.  And  as  they  were  to  have  the  drawing-room 
in  the  sleeping-car  (Ben's  suggestion),  they  went 
directly  to  the  coach  in  their  party  clothes.  And  so  it 
happened  that  this  little  woman,  who  had  never  occu 
pied  a  berth  in  a  Pullman,  entered  her  compartment 
in  the  robes  of  a  princess. 

Alice  had  suggested  a  maid,  but  Bertha  would  not 
hear  to  that;  but  she  was  willing  that  their  coachman 
should  go  along  to  help  the  Captain.  Ben  had  inter 
posed  here,  and  said:  "You  need  some  one  used  to 
travelling.  I  know  a  colored  fellow  who  is  out  of  ser 
vice  just  now,  and  would  like  to  come  to  you.  He's 
a  good,  reliable  man,  and  a  fine  nurse."  So  she  had 
engaged  him.  He  was  on  the  platform  as  they  drove 
up — a  slight,  quiet  man,  of  gentle  speech  and  indeter- 

158 


MONEY    MAGIC 

minable  age,  who  took  charge  of  the  Captain  at  once, 
as  if  he  had  been  his  servant  for  years. 

Alice  said  good-bye  at  the  carriage  door,  but  Ben 
went  with  them  into  the  coach.  And  in  the  excitement 
of  getting  to  the  train  and  into  the  car  Bertha  had  been 
able  to  forget  the  sick  feeling  about  her  heart.  But 
now,  as  he  turned  and  said,  "It's  nearly  time  to  start," 
and  held  out  his  hand  in  parting,  a  desolation,  a  lone 
liness,  a  helpless  hunger  swept  over  her,  the  like  of 
which  had  never  anguished  her  before. 

"I  wish  you  were  going  too!"  she  faltered,  her  speech 
broken  and  full  of  sad  cadences. 

He,  too,  was  tense  with  emotion  as  he  answered: 
"I  wish  I  were,  but  I  can't — I  must  not!"  Then,  with 
the  gesture  of  a  brother,  he  bent  and  kissed  her  and 
turned  away,  blind  to  everything  else  but  his  pain, 
and,  so  stumbling  and  shaken,  vanished  from  her  sight. 

For  a  moment  she  remained  standing  in  the  aisle, 
the  touch  of  his  lips  still  clinging  to  her  cheek,  sur 
prised,  full  of  bewildered  defence;  then,  as  reckless  of 
on-lookers  as  he  had  been,  she  rushed  to  the  window  in 
swift  attempt  to  catch  a  final  glimpse  of  him.  But 
in  vain;  he  had  hurried  away  without  looking  back, 
her  look  of  wonder  and  surprise  still  dazzling  him 
with  its  significance.  A  kiss  with  him,  as  with  her, 
had  never  been  a  thing  lightly  given  or  received,  and 
this  caress,  so  simple  to  others,  sprang  from  an  impulse 
that  was  elemental.  That  he  had  both  shocked  and 
angered  her  he  fully  believed;  but  the  arch  of  her 
brows,  the  wistful  curve  of  her  lips,  and  the  pretty, 
almost  childish,  push  of  her  hands  against  his  breast 
were  still  so  appealingly  vivid  that  he  entered  the  car 
riage  and  took  his  seat  beside  Alice  with  a  kind  of  re 
bellious  joy  hot  in  his  blood. 


MONEY    MAGIC 

However,  as  his  passion  ebbed  his  uneasiness  deep 
ened,  and  he  went  to  his  room  that  night  with  a  feeling 
that  his  connection  with  the  Haneys,  so  profitable  and 
so  pleasant,  was  in  danger  of  being  irremediably  broken 
off.  "She  will  be  justified  in  refusing  ever  to  see  me 
again,"  he  groaned.  And  in  this  spirit  of  self-condemna 
tion  and  loneliness  he  took  up  his  work  next  day. 

Bertha's  self-revelation  was  slower.  She  was  so 
young  and  so  innately  honest  and  good  that  no  sense 
of  guilt  attached  to  the  pleasure  she  felt  in  the  sudden 
revelation  that  this  splendid  young  man  loved  her — a 
pleasure  which  grew  as  the  first  shock  of  the  parting, 
the  pain,  and  the  surprise  wore  away.  "He  likes  me! 
He  said  I  was  beautiful!  He  kissed  me!"  These  were 
the  rounds  in  the  ladder  of  her  ascent,  and  she  was 
carried  high,  only  to  fall  into  despair.  For  was  she 
not  leaving  him  and  all  the  pleasant  people  she  had 
come  so  recently  to  know — hurrying  away  into  darkness 
with  a  crippled  man,  old  before  his  time,  out  into  a 
world  of  which  she  knew  little — for  which,  at  this  mo 
ment,  she  cared  nothing? 

She  went  back,  a  few  moments  later,  with  this  sorrow 
written  on  her  face,  to  find  Lucius,  the  colored  man, 
deftly  preparing  the  Captain  for  bed.  The  old  borderer 
looked  up  with  a  smile,  in  which  shame  and  sadness 
mingled.  "Well,  Bertie,  I  didn't  think  I'd  come  to 
this — me,  that  could  once  sit  in  me  saddle  and  pick  a 
dollar  out  o'  the  dust.  But  so  it  is." 

"I'll  take  care  of  you!"  she  cried, in  swift  contrition. 
Turning  almost  fiercely  to  the  valet,  she  said:  "You 
can  go,  I'll  'tend  to  him!" 

The  Captain  stopped  her  gently.  "No,  darlin', 
Ben's  right ;  I'm  too  clumsy  and  heavy  for  you.  I  need 
just  such  a  handy  man.  Now,  now!  Let  be!  ...  Go 

1 60 


MONEY    MAGIC 

ahead,  Lucius,  strip  off  these  monkey-fixens,  and  dom 
the  man  that  gets  me  into  them  again." 

Efficient  as  she  was,  the  girl  could  not  but  admit  that 
Lucius  was  better  able  to  serve  her  husband  than  her 
self.  He  was  both  deft  and  strong;  and  though  the 
swaying  of  the  car  troubled  his  master,  he  steadied  him 
and  guided  him  and  stowed  him  away  as  featly  as  if 
it  were  the  fiftieth  instead  of  the  first  time;  then,  with 
a  few  words  of  explanation  to  the  wife,  he  quietly  with 
drew,  and  shut  the  door  with  a  final  touch  of  considerate 
care  which  was  new  to  her. 

She  would  have  been  less  troubled  by  him  had  he 
been  a  black  man,  but  he  was  not.  He  seemed  more 
like  a  Spaniard,  and  his  grizzled  mustache,  yellowish 
skin,  and  big  dreamy  black  eyes  lent  him  a  curious  dis 
tinction,  and  the  thought  that  he  was  to  take  her  place 
as  crutch  and  cane  to  the  Captain  gave  her  a  sense  of 
uselessness  which  she  had  not,  up  to  this  moment,  con 
fessed. 

His  suggestions,  combined  to  the  minute  instructions 
of  Miss  Franklin,  enabled  her  to  get  to  her  bunk  in  fair 
order,  but  no  sleep  came  to  her  for  hours.  She  longed 
for  her  mother  more  childishly  than  at  any  time  since 
her  marriage.  She  reproached  herself  for  not  bringing 
Miss  Franklin.  ''Why  did  I  come  at  all?"  she  wailed, 
in  final  accusation. 

There  had  been  a  time  when  the  thought  of  this  trip — 
of  Chicago,  New  York,  and  Washington — was  big  in 
her  mind,  but  it  was  so  no  longer.  These  great  cities 
were  but  names — empty  sounds  compared  to  the 
realities  she  was  leaving:  her  splendid  house,  her  horses 
and  dogs — and  her  daily  joy  in  Ben  Fordyce.  She 
did  not  put  these  visits  in  their  highest  place,  not  even 
when  remembering  his  parting  kiss,  but  she  dwelt  upon 

161 


MONEY    MAGIC 

the  inspiriting  morning  drives,  the  talks  in  the  mellow- 
tinted,  sunshine-lighted  office.  She  recalled  the  lunches 
they  took  together  and  the  occasional  wild  gallops  up 
the  canon — these  she  treasured  as  the  golden  realities, 
for  the  loss  of  which  she  was  even  now  heart-sick. 

One  thought  alone  steadied  her — gave  her  a  kind  of 
resignation:  the  Captain  wanted  to  find  his  sisters,  to 
revisit  the  scenes  of  his  youth,  and  it  was  her  duty 
to  go  with  him.  And  in  this  somewhat  dreary  comfort 
she  fell  asleep  at  last. 

She  was  awakened  next  morning  by  a  pleasant  voice 
saying:  "The  first  call  for  breakfast  has  been  made, 
Mrs.  Haney."  And  she  looked  up  to  find  Lucius  peering 
in  at  the  door  with  serious,  kindly  eyes.  He  added, 
formally:  "If  I  can  assist  you  in  any  way  call  me, 
and  please  let  me  know  when  you  are  ready  to  have  me 
come  in." 

His  speech  was  so  precise  and  his  manner  so  perfect 
that  Bertha  was  puzzled  and  a  little  embarrassed  by 
them.  It  seemed  abnormal  to  have  a  hired  servant  so 
polished,  so  thoughtful.  She  dressed  hurriedly,  while 
the  Captain  yawned  and  talked  between  his  yawning. 
"That  yellow  chap  is  sure  handy.  I  wish  I'd  had  him 
before;  'twould  have  saved  you  a  power  o'  work  and 
worry.  Did  ye  sleep  last  night?" 

"Not  very  well.  I  hope  you  did.  You  can't  com 
plain  of  the  bunk." 

' '  'Tis  luxurious — 'tis  so !  But  there's  nothing  like  the 
west  side  of  Colorado  Avenue,  after  all,  or  a  bed  of  pine 
boughs  beside  a  roaring  mountain  stream.  'Twas  a 
fine  little  supper  Ben  gave  us  last  night." 

The  level  lands  awed  and  depressed  the  mountain 
girl.  They  seemed  to  type  the  flat  and  desolate  spir 
itual  world  into  which  she  was  entering,  and  the  ride 

162 


MONEY    MAGIC 

seemed  interminable,  carrying  her  every  hour  farther 
from  the  scenes  and  sounds  to  which  her  love  clung. 
She  was  bitterly  homesick,  and  nothing  seemed  to 
promise  comfort.  She  gazed  with  lack-lustre  eyes  on 
the  towns  and  rivers  along  the  way,  and  she  entered 
the  great  inland  metropolis  by  the  lake  with  dread  and 
a  deepening  sense  of  her  inexperience  and  youth. 

On  the  neighboring  track  stood  the  return  sleepers 
headed  for  the  hills,  and  she  acknowledged  a  wild  desire 
to  take  her  place  among  the  jocund  folk  who  stood  on 
the  observation  -  platform  exchanging  good-byes  with 
friends.  Thunderous,  smothering,  and  vast  the  city 
seemed  as  they  drove  through  it  on  their  way  to  the 
hotel,  and  upon  reaching  her  room  she  flung  herself 
down  on  her  bed  and  sobbed  in  a  frenzy  of  homesickness. 

Haney,  who  had  never  before  perceived  a  tear  on  her 
face,  was  startled,  and  stood  in  puzzled  pain  looking 
down  at  her,  while  the  tactful  Lucius  went  about  the 
unpacking  of  the  trunks,  confident  that  the  shower 
would  soon  be  over. 

"What's  the  ail  of  it?"  asked  the  Captain.  "Tell 
me,  darlin'.  Are  ye  sick?" 

She  shook  her  head  from  side  to  side,  like  a  suffering 
and  weary  child,  and  made  no  further  answer. 


CHAPTER  XV 
MART'S  VISIT  TO  HIS  SISTER 

BERTHA  woke  next  morning  with  a  sense  of 
weariness  and  desolation  still  at  her  heart,  but 
she  dressed  and  went  to  breakfast  with  Haney  at  an 
hour  so  early  that  the  dining-room  was  nearly  empty. 
Lucius,  with  quiet  insistence  upon  the  importance  of 
his  employers,  had  secured  a  place  at  a  window  over 
looking  the  lake,  and  was  glad  to  see  his  mistress  bright 
en  as  her  eyes  swept  the  burnished  shoreless  expanse. 

Haney,  still  troubled  by  her  languid  air  and  gloomy 
face,  took  heart,  and  talked  of  what  Chicago  was  in  the 
days  when  he  saw  it  and  what  it  was  now.  "People 
say  it  don't  improve.  But  listen:  when  I  was  here  the 
Palmer  House  was  the  newly  built  wonder  of  the  West, 
the  streets  were  tinkling  with  bobtail  horse-cars.  And 
now  look  at  it!" 

Bertha  went  back  to  her  room,  still  in  nerveless  and 
despondent  mood,  not  knowing  what  to  do.  The  Cap 
tain  proposed  the  usual  round.  "We'll  take  an  auto 
car,  and  go  to  the  parks,  and  inspect  the  Lake  Shore 
Drive  and  the  Potter  Palmer  castle.  Then  we'll  go 
down  and  see  where  the  World's  Fair  was.  Then  we'll 
visit  the  Wheat  Pit.  'Tis  all  there  is,  bedad." 

Lucius,  who  had  been  answering  the  'phone  in  the 
hall,  came  in  at  the  moment  to  say:  "A  lady  wishes  to 
speak  with  Mrs.  Haney." 

164 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"A  lady!     Who?" 

"A  certain  Mrs.  Brent — a  friend  of  Miss  Franklin's." 

Bertha's  face  darkened.  "Oh  I'd  forgot  all  about 
her.  Miss  Franklin  gave  me  a  letter  to  her,"  she  ex 
plained,  as  she  went  out. 

She  had  no  wish  to  see  Mrs.  Brent.  On  the  contrary, 
she  had  an  aversion  to  seeing  or  doing  anything.  But 
there  was  something  compelling  in  the  cool,  sweet, 
quiet  voice  which  came  over  the  line,  and  before  realiz 
ing  it  she  had  promised  to  meet  her  at  eleven  o'clock. 

Mrs.  Brent  then  added:  "I  am  consumed  with  desire 
to  see  you,  for  Dor — I  mean  Miss  Franklin — has  been 
writing  to  me  about  you.  You're  just  in  time  to  come 
to  a  little  dinner  of  mine — don't  make  any  engagement 
for  to-morrow  night.  I'm  coming  down  immediately." 

Bertha  quite  gravely  answered,  "All  right,  I'll  be 
here,"  and  hung  up  the  receiver,  committed  to  an  in 
terview  that  became  formidable,  now  that  the  sweet 
ness  of  the  voice  had  died  out  of  her  ears. 

"Who  was  it?"  asked  the  Captain. 

"A  friend  of  Miss  Franklin's — sounds  just  like  her 
voice,  but  I  think  she's  only  a  cousin.  She  wants  to 
see  me,  and  I've  promised  to  be  here  at  eleven." 

The  Captain  looked  a  little  disappointed.  "Well, 
we  can  take  a  spin  up  the  lake.  Lucius,  go  hire  a 
buckboard  and  we're  off." 

"There's  an  auto-car  waiting,  sir.  I  ordered  it  half 
an  hour  ago." 

The  gambler  looked  at  him  humorously.  "Ye  must 
be  a  mind-reader." 

A  tap  on  the  door  called  the  man  out,  and  when  he 
returned  he  bore  a  telegram.  "For  you,  Captain,"  he 
said,  presenting  it  on  the  salver. 

The  gambler  took  it  with  sudden  apprehension  in  his 

165 


MONEY    MAGIC 

face.     "I  hope   there's  no  trouble  at  the  mine,"  he 
muttered. 

Bertha,  leaning  over  his  shoulder,  read  it  first, 
from  Ben!"  she  called,  joyously.     "Ain't  it  just  like 

him?" 

This  message  seemed  a  little  bit  foolish  to  Haney. 

"  Tust  to  say  hello  1    All  well  here.     Have  a  good  time. 

"  FORDYCE." 

To  Bertha  it  made  all  the  difference  between  sun 
shine  and  shadow.  She  thrilled  to  it  as  if  it  had  been  a 
voice.  "He  knew  I'd  be  homesick,  and  so  he  sent  this 
to  cheer  me  up,"  she  said.  And  in  this  she  was  right. 
Her  shoulders  lifted  and  her  face  cleared.  "Come  on, 
Captain,  if  we're  going." 

As  they  came  down  the  elevator,  men  in  buttons 
met  them,  and  attended  them  to  the  door,  and  turned 
them  over  to  still  other  uniformed  attendants,  who  were 
fain  to  help  them  into  the  auto-car;  for  Lucius  had 
managed  to  convey  to  the  hotel  a  proper  sense  of  his 
employer's  money  value.  He  himself  was  always 
close  to  his  master's  side,  for  lately  Haney  had  taken 
to  stumbling  at  unexpected  moments,  and  his  increas 
ing  bulk  made  a  fall  a  real  danger. 

A  thrill  of  delight,  of  elation,  ran  through  the  young 
wife  as  she  glanced  up  and  down  Chicago's  proudest 
avenue.  It  conformed  to  her  notion  of  a  city.  The 
level  park,  flooded  with  spring  sunshine,  was  walled  on 
the  west  by  massive  buildings,  while  to  the  east  stretched 
the  shining  lake.  From  here  the  city  seemed  truly 
cosmopolitan.  It  had  dignity  and  wealth  of  color, 
and  to  the  girl  from  Sibley  Junction  was  completely 
satisfying — almost  inspiring. 

It  was  uplifting  also  to  be  attended  to  a  splendid 
1 66 


MONEY    MAGIC 

auto-car  by  willing,  alert  servants,  and  to  feel  that  the 
passers-by  were  all  envious  of  her  careless  ease.  Bertha 
forgot  her  homesickness,  and  took  her  seat  in  the  spirit 
of  one  who  is  determined  to  have  the  worth  of  her 
money  (for  once  anyhow),  and  the  pedestrians,  if  they 
had  any  definite  notion  of  her  at  all,  probably  said: 
"There  goes  a  rich  old  cattle  king  and  his  pretty 
daughter.  It's  money  that  makes  the  'mobile  go." 

She  held  to  this  pose  for  half  an  hour,  while  they 
threaded  the  tumult  of  Wabash  Avenue,  and,  crossing 
the  river,  swept  up  the  Lake  Shore  Drive.  But  the  lake 
filled  her  with  other  thoughts.  "I  wish  we  had  this  at 
the  Springs,"  she  said.  "This  is  fine!" 

"We  have  our  share,"  answered  he.  "If  we  had 
this  at  our  door,  there  wouldn't  be  anything  left  to  go 
to." 

They  whizzed  through  the  park,  and  down  another 
avenue  into  the  thick  tangle  of  traffic,  which  scared 
them  both,  and  so  back  to  the  hotel,  the  Captain  say 
ing:  "My!  my!  but  she  has  grown.  'Tis  twenty  years 
since  I  took  this  turn." 

In  some  strange  way  Bertha  had  drawn  courage, 
resolution,  pride,  and  ambition  from  what  she  saw  on 
this  short  ride.  That  she  was  in  a  car  and  mistress  of 
it  was  in  itself  a  marvellous  distinction,  and  the  thought 
of  what  she  would  have  been — as  a  "round-tripper" 
from  Sibley  Junction — added  to  her  pleasure  and  pride. 
She  was  always  doing  sums  in  her  head  now.  Thus: 
"Suppose  our  excursion  does  cost  twenty  dollars  per 
day;  that's  only  one  hundred  and  fifty  per  week,  six 
hundred  per  month,  and  our  income  is  ten  times  that, 
and  more."  She  had  not  risen  above  the  habit  of 
calculation,  but  she  was  fast  rising  to  higher  levels  of 
expenditure. 

"  167 


MONEY    MAGIC 

She  met  Mrs.  Brent  with  something  of  this  mood  in 
her  manner,  but  was  instantly  softened  and  won  by 
her  visitor,  who  did  not  in  the  least  resemble  Miss 
Franklin  in  appearance,  though  her  voice  was  wonder 
fully  the  same.  Her  eyes  were  wide,  her  brow  serene, 
and  her  lips  smiling. 

"Why,  you're  a  child,"  she  said — "a  mere  babe! 
Dorothy  didn't  tell  me  that." 

Bertha  stiffened  a  little,  and  Mrs.  Brent  laughingly 
added:  "Please  don't  be  offended — I  am  really  sur 
prised."  And  then  her  manner  became  so  winning  that 
before  the  Western  girl  realized  it  she  had  given  her 
consent  to  join  a  dinner-party  the  following  night. 
"Come  early,  for  we  are  to  go  to  the  theatre  after 
wards.  I'll  have  some  of  the  university  people  in 
to  see  you.  Miss  Franklin  has  made  us  all  eager  to 
meet  you." 

Bertha  had  a  dim  perception  that  this  eagerness  to 
meet  her  was  curiosity,  but  her  loyalty  to  her  teacher 
and  the  charm  of  her  visitor  kept  her  from  openly 
rebelling. 

The  Captain  was  not  so  easily  persuaded.  "'Tis 
poor  business  for  me,"  he  said.  "Time  was  when  I 
went  to  bed  like  a  wolf — when  the  time  served;  but 
now  I'm  as  regular  to  me  couch  as  a  one-legged  duck. 
However,  to  keep  me  wife  in  tune,  I'll  go  or  come,  as 
the  case  may  be." 

Mrs.  Brent  did  not  attempt  to  be  funny  with  this 
wounded  bear,  and  they  parted  very  good  friends. 

As  her  visitor  was  going,  Bertha  suddenly  said, 
"Wait  a  minute,"  and,  going  to  her  hand-bag,  brought 
out  an  envelope  addressed  in  Congdon's  big  scrawling 
hand.  "Do  you  know  these  people?" 

Mrs.  Brent  glanced  at  it.     "Why,  yes,  Joe  Moss  is  an 
168 


MONEY    MAGIC 

artist.  He's  well-known  here,  and  you'll  like  him.  His 
wife  is  a  very  talented  woman,  and  will  be  of  great  ad 
vantage  to  you.  They  know  all  the  'artistic  gang,' 
as  they  call  themselves,  and  they  live  a  delightfully 
Bohemian  life.  They're  right  near  here,  and  if  I  were 
you  I'd  go  in  to  see  them.  I'd  thought  of  having  the 
Mosses  to-morrow  night,  and  this  settles  it.  They 
must  come.  Good-bye  till  to-morrow  at  7  P.M."  And 
she  went  out,  leaving  the  girl  in  a  glow  of  increasing 
good- will. 

Haney  was  looking  over  a  list  of  names  and  addresses 
which  Lucius  had  brought  to  him,  and  as  Bertha  re 
turned  he  put  his  finger  on  one,  and  said:  "I  believe,  on 
me  soul,  that  this  Patrick  McArdle  is  me  second  sister's 
husband.  'Patrick  McArdle,  pattern-maker.'  Sure, 
Charles  said  he  was  in  a  stove  foundry.  'Tis  over  on 
the  West  Side,  Lucius  says.  How  would  it  do  to  slide 
over  and  see?" 

"I'm  agreeable,"  she  carelessly  answered,  her  mind 
full  of  Mrs.  Brent  and  the  dinner. 

Lucius  interposed  a  word.  "It's  a  very  poor  neigh 
borhood,  Captain.  We  can  hardly  get  to  it  with  a 
machine." 

"Well,  then  we'll  drive.  I  want  to  make  a  stab  at 
finding  my  sister  annyhow." 

Lucius  submitted,  but  plainly  disapproved  of  the 
whole  connection.  On  the  way  Haney  talked  of  his 
sister  Fanny.  "She  was  a  bouncing,  jolly-tempered 
girl,  always  down  at  the  heels,  but  good  to  me.  She 
was  two  years  older,  and  was  mother's  main  guy,  as  the 
sailors  say.  She  was  fairly  industrious,  though  none 
of  us  ever  worked  just  for  the  fun  of  it.  Fan  married 
all  the  other  girls  off  to  saloon-keepers  or  aldermen, 
which  is  all  the  same  in  pay,  and  then  ended  up  by 

169 


MONEY   MAGIC 

takin'  a  man  far  older  than  herself,  who  was  not  very 
strong  and  not  very  smart.  He  makes  patterns  in 
sand  for  the  leaves  and  acorns  you  see  on  stove  doors. 
For  all  we  know,  he  may  have  made  them  that's  on 
your  new  range  at  home." 

The  mention  of  that  range  brought  to  Bertha's  mind 
a  picture  of  her  lovely  kitchen,  so  light  and  bright  and 
shining,  and  another  spasm  of  homesickness  and  doubt 
seized  her.  "Mart,  we  had  no  business  to  come  away 
and  leave  that  house  and  all  our  nice  things  in  it." 

"Miss  Franklin  will  see  after  it." 

"But  how  can  she ?  She's  gone  nearly  all  day.  And, 
besides,  she's  not  up  to  housekeeping — it  ain't  her  line. 
I  feel  like  going  right  back  this  minute!" 

This  feeling  of  dismay  was  increased  by  the  glimpses 
of  the  grimy  West  Side,  into  which  they  were  plung 
ing  every  moment  deeper.  After  leaving  the  asphalt 
pavement  the  noise  increased  till  they  were  unable  to 
make  each  other  hear  without  shouting,  and  so  they 
sat  in  silence  while  the  driver  turned  corners  and 
dodged  carts  and  cars  till  at  last  he  turned  abruptly 
into  a  side-street,  and,  driving  slowly  along  over  a 
rotting  block  pavement,  drew  up  before  a  small,  two- 
story  frame  house — a  relic  of  the  old-time  city. 

The  yards  were  full  of  children,  who  all  stopped  their 
play  to  stare  at  this  carriage,  especially  impressed  by 
Lucius,  who  sat  very  erect  on  the  seat  beside  the  driver, 
resolutely  doing  a  very  disagreeable  duty.  At  the 
door  he  got  down  and  said:  "Now,  Captain,  you  give 
me  a  pointer  or  two,  and  I'll  find  out  whether  this  is  your 
McArdle  or  not." 

"Just  ask  if  Mrs.  McArdle  was  Fan  Haney,  of  Troy. 
That'll  cover  the  specification,"  he  answered. 

By  this  time  a  large,  fair-haired,  slovenly  woman  had 
170 


A    WOMAN    HAD    OPENED    THE    DOOR,    AND    CALLED    OUT  I    "  WHO 
DO    YOU    WANT    TO    FIND?" 


MONEY    MAGIC 

opened  the  door,  and,  with  truculent  voice,  called  out: 
"Who  do  you  want  to  find?" 

"Fan  Haney,  of  Troy,"  answered  the  Captain. 

"That's  me,"  the  woman  retorted. 

"Ye  are  so!  Very  well,  thin,  consider  yourself  under 
arrest  this  minute,"  said  Haney,  beginning  to  clamber 
out  of  the  carriage. 

The  woman  stared  a  moment ;  then  a  slow  grin  devel 
oped  on  her  face  so  like  to  Haney 's  own  that  Bertha 
laughed.  The  lost  sister  was  found. 

As  Haney  neared  her,  he  called  out:  "Well,  Fan, 
ye 're  the  same  old  sloven  ye  were  when  I  used  to  kick 
your  shins  in  Troy  for  soapin'  me  mouth." 

"Mart  Haney,  by  the  piper!"  she  exclaimed,  wiping 
her  lips  and  hands  in  anticipation  of  a  caress.  "Where 
did  ye  borry  the  funeral  wagon?" 

He  shook  her  hand — the  kiss  was  out  of  his  inclina 
tion — and  responded  in  the  same  vein  of  mockery:  "A 
friend  of  mine  died  the  day,  and  I  broke  out  of  the 
procession  to  pay  a  call.  Divil  a  bit  the  dead  man 
cares." 

"Who's  with  you  in  the  carriage?" 

"Mrs.  Haney,  bedad." 

"Naw,  it  is  not!" 

"Sure  thing!" 

"She's  too  young  and  pretty — and  Mart,  ye're  lame! 
And,  howly  saints,  man,  ye  look  old!  I  wouldn't  have 
known  ye  but  fer  the  mouth  and  the  eyes  of  ye.  Ye 
have  the  same  old  grin." 

"The  same  to  you." 

"I  get  little  chance  to  practise  it  these  days." 

"'Tis  the  same  here." 

"But  how  came  ye  hurt?" 

"A  felly  with  a  grievance  poured  a  load  of  buckshot 
171 


MONEY    MAGIC 

into  me  side,  and  one  of  them  lodged  in  me  spine,  so  they 
say." 

She  clicked  her  tongue  in  ready  sympathy.  "Dear, 
dear!  But  come  in  and  sit  ye  down.  Ask  yer  girl  to 
come  in — I'm  not  perticular." 

"She's  me  lawful  wife,"  he  said,  and  his  tone  changed 
her  manner  into  something  like  sweetness  and  dignity. 

"Go  ye  in,  Mart.     I'll  fetch  her." 

As  the  young  wife  sat  in  her  carriage  before  this 
wretched  little  home  and  watched  that  slatternly  sister 
of  her  husband  approach,  she  rose  on  a  wave  of  self- 
appreciation.  Haney  lost  in  dignity  and  power  by 
this  association.  For  the  first  time  in  her  life  the  girl 
acknowledged  a  fixed  difference  between  her  blood  and 
that  of  Mart  Haney.  She  was  disgusted  and  ashamed 
as  Mrs.  McArdle,  coming  to  the  carriage  side,  said 
bluffly:  "Tis  a  poor  parlor  I  have,  Mrs.  Haney,  but 
if  ye'll  light  out  and  come  in  I'll  send  for  Pat.  He'll 
be  wantin'  to  see  ye  both." 

Bertha  would  have  given  a  good  deal  to  avoid  this 
visit,  but  seeing  no  way  to  escape  she  stepped  from 
the  carriage  under  the  keen  scrutiny  of  her  hostess  and 
walked  up  the  rickety  steps  with  something  of  the  same 
squeamish  care  she  would  have  shown  on  entering  a 
cow-barn. 

"Here,  Benny!"  called  Mrs.  McArdle.  "Run  you  to 
Dad  and  tell  him  me  brother  Mart  has  come,  and  to 
hurry  home.  Off  wid  ye  now!" 

The  poverty  of  this  city  working-man's  home  was 
plain  to  see.  It  struck  in  upon  Bertha  with  the  greater 
power  by  reason  of  her  six  months  of  luxury.  It  was 
not  a  dirty  home,  but  it  was  cluttered  and  hap-hazard. 
The  old  wooden  chairs  were  worn  with  scouring,  but 
littered  with  children's  rags  of  clothing.  The  smell  of 

172 


MONEY    MAGIC 

boiling  cabbage  was  in  the  air,  for  dinner-time  was  nigh. 
There  were  three  rooms  on  the  ground- floor  and  one  of 
these  was  living-room  and  dining-room,  the  other 
the  kitchen,  and  a  small  bedroom  showed  through  an 
open  door.  For  all  its  disorder  it  gave  out  a  familiar 
odor  of  homeliness  which  profoundly  moved  Haney. 

"Ye've  grown  like  the  mother,  Fan.  And  I  do  be 
lieve  some  of  these  chairs  are  her's." 

"They  are.  When  Dad  broke  up  the  house  and 
went  to  live  with  Kate  I  put  in  a  bid  for  the  stuff  and 
I  brought  some  of  it  out  here  with  me." 

"I'm  glad  ye  did.  That  old  rocker  now — sure  it's 
the  very  one  we  used  to  fight  for.  I'll  give  ye  twenty- 
five  dollars  for  it,  Fan." 

"Ye  can  have  it  for  the  askin',  Mart,"  she  generously 
replied — tears  of  pleasure  in  her  eyes.  "Sure,  after  all 
the  tales  I  heard  of  ye — it's  to  see  you  takin'  fine  to 
the  mother's  chair.  She  was  a  good  mother  to  us, 
Mart." 

"She  was!"  he  answered. 

"And  if  the  old  Dad  had  been  as  much  of  a  man  as 
she  was,  we'd  all  stand  in  better  light  to-day  I'm  think- 
in' — though  the  father  did  the  best  he  knew." 

"The  worst  he  did  was  to  let  us  all  run  wild.  A  club 
about  our  shoulders  now  and  then  would  have  kept 
our  tempers  sweeter." 

Bertha,  in  rich  new  garments,  seemed  as  alien  to  the 
scene  as  any  fine  lady  visiting  among  the  slums.  She 
was  struggling,  too,  between  disgust  of  her  sister-in- 
law's  slovenly  house  and  untidy  dress,  and  the  good 
humor,  tender  sentiment  and  innate  motherliness  of 
her  nature.  There  was  charm  in  her  voice  and  in  her 
big  gray  eyes.  Irish  to  the  core,  she  could  storm  at 
one  child  and  coo  with  another  an  instant  later.  She 


MONEY    MAGIC 

was  like  Mart,  or  rather  Mart  became  every  moment 
more  of  her  kind  and  less  of  the  bold  and  remorseless 
desperado  he  had  once  seemed  to  be.  The  deeper  they 
dug  into  the  past  the  more  of  his  essential  kinship  to 
this  woman  he  discovered.  He  greeted  her  children 
with  kindly  interest,  leaving  a  dollar  in  each  chubby, 
dirty  fist,  and  when  McArdle  came  into  the  room  Fan 
had  quite  conquered  her  awe  of  Bertha's  finery. 

McArdle  was  a  small  bent  man,  with  a  black  beard,  a 
pale  serious  face  and  speculative  eyes.  He  looked  like 
a  wondering,  rather  cautious  animal  as  he  came  in. 
He  wore  a  cheap  gray  suit  and  a  celluloid  collar,  and  was 
as  careless  in  his  way  as  his  wife.  It  was  plain  that  he 
was  gentle,  absent-minded,  and  industrious. 

He  listened  to  his  wife's  voluble  explanations  in 
silence,  inwardly  digesting  all  that  was  said,  then  shook 
hands — still  without  a  word.  And  when  all  these  pre 
liminaries  were  over  he  laid  his  hat  aside  and  ran  his 
fingers  through  his  thin  hair  with  a  perplexed  and 
troubled  gesture,  asking,  irrelevantly :"  "How's  the 
weather  out  there?" 

Nobody  saw  the  humor  of  this  but  his  wife,  who 
explained:  "Pat  is  a  fiend  on  the  weather.  He  was 
raised  on  a  farm,  ye  see,  and  he  can't  get  over  it.  I  say 
to  him:  'What  difference  does  the  state  o'  the  weather 
make  to  you,  that's  under  a  roof  all  day  ?'  But  divil 
a  change  does  it  make  in  him.  The  first  thing  in  the 
morning  he  turns  to  the  weather  report." 

McArdle's  eyes  showed  traces  of  a  smile.  "If  it 
weren't  for  the  papers  and  the  weather  reports,  me 
days  would  be  alike.  But  sit  by,"  he  added,  hospita 
bly,  waving  his  hand  towards  the  table,  on  which  the 
dinner  was  steaming. 

They  were  drawing  up  to  the  board  when  a  puffing 
i74 


MONEY    MAGIC 

and  blowing,  and  the  furious  clatter  of  feet  announced 
the  inrushing  of  the  children. 

Not  the  mother's  shrill  whooping,  but  the  sight  of  the 
strange  guests,  transformed  them  into  mutes.  The  car 
riage  outside  had  filled  them  with  wild  alarms,  but  the 
sight  of  their  parents  alive,  and  entertaining  guests  of 
shining  quality,  was  almost  as  satisfy ingly  unusual  as 
death  and  a  funeral. 

They  were  a  noisy,  hearty  throng,  and  Bertha's 
heart  went  out  to  poor  Patrick  McArdle,  who  sat  amid 
the  uproar,  silent,  patient,  the  heroic  breadwinner  for 
them  all.  No  wonder  he  was  old  before  his  time. 
Slowly  her  antipathy  died  out.  She  began  to  find  ex 
cuses  even  for  the  mother.  To  feed  such  a  herd  of  little 
pigs  and  calves,  even  out  of  wooden  troughs,  would  re 
quire  much  labor;  to  keep  them  buttoned,  combed,  and 
fit  for  school  was  an  appalling  task.  ' '  Mart  must  help 
these  folks,"  she  said  to  herself. 

McArdle  had  nothing  to  say  during  the  meal,  and 
Bertha  could  see  that  his  family  did  not  expect  him  to 
do  more  than  answer  a  plain  question.  Indeed,  the 
children  created  a  hubbub  that  quite  cut  off  any  con 
nected  intercourse,  and  Fan,  with  a  grin  of  despair,  at 
last  said:  "They'll  be  gorged  in  a  few  minutes,  and  then 
we'll  have  peace." 

"This  is  what  lack  of  money  means,"  Bertha  was 
thinking.  And  her  house,  her  automobile,  her  horses, 
became  at  the  moment  as  priceless,  as  remote,  as  crown 
jewels  and  papal  palaces.  Then,  conversely,  she  grew 
to  a  larger  conception  of  the  possibilities  which  lay  in 
sixty  thousand  dollars  a  year.  Not  only  did  it  lift  her 
and  all  hers  above  the  heat  and  mire  and  distress  of  the 
world  of  toil,  it  enabled  them  to  help  others. 

Swiftly  the  children  filled  their  stomachs,  and,  seiz- 


MONEY    MAGIC 

ing  each  a  piece  of  cake  or  pie,  withdrew,  leaving  the 
old  folks  and  their  guests  in  peace. 

Thereupon,  McArdle,  taking  a  pipe  from  his  pocket 
and  knocking  it  absent-mindedly  on  the  seat  of  the 
chair,  dryly  remarked:  "Now  that  we  can  hear  our 
selves  think,  let's  have  it  all  over  again.  Who  air  ye, 
and  why  air  ye  here?" 

Being  told  a  second  time  that  this  was  his  brother-in- 
law,  a  miner  from  Colorado,  he  shook  hands  all  over 
again,  and  accepted  Mart's  cigar  with  careful  fingers, 
as  if  fearing  to  drop  and  break  the  precious  thing. 

Bertha  said:  "I  think  we'd  better  be  going,  Captain. 
Our  carriage  is  outside." 

"Gracious  Peter,"  cried  Mrs.  McArdle,  "I  forgot  all 
about  it!  Is  he  by  the  day  or  by  the  hour?" 

Mart  answered,  with  an  amused  smile.  "Well,  now, 
I  don't  know.  I  think  by  the  hour." 

"  Ye're  makin'  a  big  bluff,  Mart.  We're  properly  im 
pressed,"  said  his  sister.  "Go  pay  him  off,  and  save 
the  money." 

McArdle  put  in  a  query.  "You  must  have  a  good 
thing  out  there?" 

"Tis  enough  to  pay  me  carriage  hire,"  answered 
Mart.  And  his  tone  satisfied  McArdle,  who,  with  re 
flective  eye  on  Bertha,  puffed  away  at  his  cigar,  while 
Mart  gave  his  promise  to  call  again.  "I'll  come  over 
and  get  you  all,  and  take  you  to  the  theatre  in  me 
auto-car,"  he  said,  as  he  rose.  "But  we  must  be  going 
now." 

Fan  was  beginning  to  perceive  in  him  more  and  more 
of  the  man  of  power  and  substance,  and  her  manner 
changed.  "Ye  were  always  the  smartest  of  the  lot  of 
us,  Mart." 

"No,  I  was  not.     Charles  was  the  bright  boy." 
176 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"  So  he  was,  but  he  was  lazy.  That  was  why  he  took 
up  with  play-acting — 'tis  an  easy  job." 

"Even  that  is  too  much  work  for  him,"  remarked 
McArdle. 

"I  reckon  that's  right,"  laughed  Mart,  as  he  turned 
towards  the  door. 

"Come  again,  if  ye  find  time,"  called  Fan,  as  they 
went  down  the  steps. 

McArdle,  with  his  cigar  in  his  hand,  waved  it  in  a  sign 
of  parting.  And  so  their  visit  to  the  McArdles  closed. 

Mart  turned  to  his  silent  and  thoughtful  wife,  and 
said,  with  a  great  deal  of  meaning  in  his  voice:  "Well, 
now,  what  do  you  think  of  that  for  a  fine  litter  of 
pups?" 

"They  seem  hearty." 

"They  do.  'Tis  on  such  that  the  future  of  the  ray- 
public  rests."  And  then  he  added:  "Sure,  Bertie,  it 
gripped  me  heart  to  see  the  mother's  old  chair!" 


CHAPTER  XVI 

A    DINNER    AND    A    PLAY 

C'CIUS  seemed  to  know  the  city  very  well,  and  to 
have  a  list  of  its  principal  citizens  in  his  memory. 
He  knew  the  best  places  to  shop  and  the  selectest  places 
to  eat,  and  Bertha  soon  came  to  ask  his  advice  about 
other  and  more  intimate  affairs.  She  showed  him  Mrs. 
Brent's  card,  and  explained  that  they  were  going  out 
there  to  dinner. 

"I  know  the  locality,"  he  said,  much  impressed,  "and 
I  think  I  know  the  house.  It's  likely  to  be  quietly 
swell,  and  you'd  better  wear  your  best  gown." 

"The  black  dress,"  said  Haney,  who  was  a  deeply 
concerned  witness.  "I  like  that." 

Lucius  was  respectful,  but  firm.  "You  are  very  well 
in  that,  Mrs.  Haney.  But  if  I  were  you  I'd  have  a  new 
gown;  you'll  need  it.  I  know  just  the  saleslady  to  fit 
you  out." 

"But  I've  only  worn  the  black  dress  once!"  she  ex 
claimed,  in  dismay. 

Lucius  explained  that  people  who  went  out  much  in 
the  city  made  a  point  of  not  wearing  the  same  gown 
in  the  same  circle  a  second  time.  "And  as  you  only 
have  two  presentable  evening  gowns,  you  certainly  need 
another." 

Haney  joined  in,  emphatically.  "Sure  thing!  What's 
the  good  of  money  if  you  don't  use  it  to  buy  things?" 

178 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Tremulous  with  the  excitement  of  it,  she  went  with 
the  Captain  to  several  of  the  largest  and  most  sump 
tuous  establishments  on  State  Street.  And  Lucius,  who 
accompanied  them,  ostensibly  to  be  of  service  to  his 
master,  was  of  the  greatest  service  to  his  mistress,  he 
was  so  quiet,  so  unobtrusive,  so  thoroughly  the  foot 
man  in  appearance,  so  helpful,  and  so  masterful,  in 
fact;  a  faint  shake  of  his  head,  a  nod,  a  gesture  decided 
momentous  questions. 

The  girl,  sitting  there  surrounded  by  scurrying  clerks 
and  saleswomen,  had  a  return  of  her  bewilderment 
and  doubt.  "Can  it  be  true  that  I  can  buy  any  of 
these  cloaks  and  hats?"  she  asked  herself.  What  was 
the  magic  that  had  made  her  lightest  wish  realizable? 
When  a  splendid  cloak  fell  round  her  shoulders,  and  she 
looked  in  the  glass  at  the  tall  figure  there,  she  glowed 
with  pride. 

"Madam  carries  a  cloak  beautifully,"  the  saleswom 
an  said,  with  sincerity.  "This  is  our  smartest  model — 
perfectly  exclusive  and  new.  Only  such  a  figure  as  the 
madam's  properly  sets  it  off." 

While  the  women  were  making  measurements  for 
some  slight  alterations,  Lucius  said:  "It  would  be  nice 
if  you  decided  on  that  automobile,  and  took  Mrs.  Haney 
to  the  dinner  in  it." 

Haney's  face  lighted  up.  "I  will!  Sh!  not  a  word. 
We'll  surprise  her." 

"If  you  don't  mind  I'll  hustle  up  a  footman's  livery." 

"So  do.     Anything  goes — for  her,  Lucius." 

Bertha  thought  she  had  already  rubbed  the  side  of 
her  wonderful  lamp  to  a  polish.  But  under  the  almost 
hypnotic  spell  of  her  West-Indian  attendant  she  bought 
shoes,  hats,  hosiery,  and  toilet  articles  till  her  room 
looked  "like  Christmas  morning,"  as  Haney  said,  and 

179 


MONEY    MAGIC 

yet  there  was  little  that  could  be  called  foolish  or 
tawdry.  She  wore  little  jewelry,  having  resisted 
Haney's  attempt  to  load  her  with  rings  and  necklaces. 
Miss  Franklin  had  impressed  upon  her  the  need  of 
being  "simple."  When  she  put  on  her  dinner -dress 
and  faced  him,  Mart  Haney  was  humbled  to  earth. 
"Sure,  ye're  beautiful  as  an  angel!"  he  exulted,  as  if 
addressing  a  saint.  And  as  she  swept  before  the  tall 
glass  and  saw  her  radiant  self  therein,  she  thought  of 
Ben,  and  her  face  flamed  with  lovely  color.  "I  wish  he 
could  see  me  now!"  she  inwardly  exclaimed. 

Miss  Franklin,  in  writing  to  her  friend,  Mrs.  Brent, 
had  said:  "In  a  sense,  the  Haneys  are  'impossible' — 
he  is  an  ex-gambler,  and  she  is  the  daughter  of  a  wom 
an  who  kept  a  miner's  boarding-house  in  the  moun 
tains.  But  this  sounds  worse  than  it  really  is.  I  like 
the  Captain.  Whatever  he  was  in  the  days  before  his 
accident  I  don't  know — they  say  he  was  a  terror.  But 
when  I  entered  the  family  he  was  as  he  is  now — a  pathet 
ic  figure.  He  isn't  really  old;  but  he's  horribly  crip 
pled,  and  takes  it  very  hard.  He  is  kindness  itself  to  his 
wife  and  to  every  one  round  him,  and  will  be  grateful  for 
anything  you  do  for  him.  Bertha  is  young  but  matur 
ing  very  rapidly,  and  there's  no  telling  where  she  will 
stop.  She's  been  studying  with  me,  and  I've  told  her 
you  will  advise  her  while  she's  in  Chicago.  You  needn't 
go  far  with  her  if  you  don't  want  to.  The  Hallidays 
and  Voughts  won't  mind  the  back  pages  of  the  Haney 
history,  and  you  needn't  say  anything  about  the  Cap 
tain's  career  if  you  don't  want  to.  He's  a  big  mine- 
owner  now,  and  is  out  of  the  gambling  and  saloon  busi 
ness  altogether.  Bertha  is  perfectly  eligible  in  herself. 
And  as  many  of  us  started  on  farms  or  poor  little  vil 
lages,  we  can't  afford  to  take  on  any  airs  over  her.  She's 

180 


MONEY    MAGIC 

of  good  parentage,  and  as  true  as  steel.  She  likes  the 
Captain,  and  is  devoted  to  him." 

Dr.  Brent  was  not  connected  with  the  university,  but 
his  wife's  brother  had  been  a  student  there,  and  was 
now  an  instructor  in  one  of  the  scientific  departments. 
And  Mrs.  Brent's  charm  of  manner  and  the  Doctor's 
easy-going  hospitality  made  their  fine  little  Kenwood 
home  the  centre  of  a  certain  intellectual  Bohemia  on 
the  borders  of  the  institution,  and  the  "artistic  gang" 
occasionally  met  and  genially  interfused  with  the  pro 
fessors  round  the  big  Brent  fireplace.  Being  rich  in 
his  own  right,  Brent  took  his  practice  in  such  moder 
ation  as  to  be  of  the  highest  effectiveness  when  he 
consented  to  operate,  and  was  in  demand  for  difficult 
surgical  cases.  He  was  slender,  blond,  and  languid  of 
movement — not  in  the  least  suggestive  of  the  Western 
hustle  of  Chicago,  and  yet  he  was  born  within  twenty 
miles  of  the  court-house.  Indeed,  it  was  the  spread  of 
the  city  which  had  enriched  his  father's  estate,  and 
which  now  permitted  him  to  work  when  he  felt  like 
it,  and  to  assemble  round  his  hearthstone — an  actual 
stone,  by  the  way  —  the  people  he  liked  best.  The 
amount  of  hickory  wood  he  burned  was  stupendous. 

Mrs.  Brent  was  known  as  "the  audacious  hostess," 
because  she  was  not  afraid  to  invite  anybody  who  in 
terested  her.  "You  take  your  reputation  in  your 
hand,"  her  friends  often  said  to  those  about  to  make 
their  first  call.  "You  may  meet  an  actor  from  New 
York  or  a  stone-mason  from  the  West  Side — one  never 
knows."  Their  house  was  an  adaptation  of  the  "mis 
sion  style"  of  California  and  possessed  one  big  room  on 
the  first  floor  which  their  friends  called  Congress  Hall. 

Miss  Franklin  was  certain  that  this  circle  would  en 
joy  the  Captain  once  he  became  at  ease,  and  she 

181 


MONEY    MAGIC 

really  hoped  Mrs.  Brent  would  "advise  the  girl,"  and, 
as  she  put  it,  "Help  her  to  get  at  the  pleasant  side  of 
Chicago.  She's  very  rich  and  she's  intelligent,  but 
she  is  very  raw!  She's  very  like  a  boy,  but  she's  worth 
while.  She  wanted  me  to  come  with  her,  but  I  could 
have  done  so  only  by  giving  up  here  and  going  as  her 
companion,  and  that  I'm  not  ready  to  do — at  present." 

After  carefully  considering  all  these  points,  Mrs. 
Brent  'phoned  her  friends,  being  careful  to  explain  that 
Dorothy  Franklin  had  sent  her  "some  fleecy  specimens 
of  Colorado  society,"  and  that  she  was  asking  a  few 
of  "the  bold  and  fearless"  among  her  set  to  meet  them. 

"Who  are  the  guests  of  honor?"  she  was  asked  by 
each  favored  one. 

Each  received  the  same  reply:  "Marshall  Haney,  the 
gambler  prince  of  Cripple  Creek,  and  his  bride,  Dead- 
shot  Nell,  biscuit-shooter,  from  Honey  Gulch." 

"Honest?" 

"Hope  to  die!" 

"It's  too  good  to  be  true!  Of  course  I'll  come.  Do 
we  have  a  quiet  game  after  dinner?" 

"Ah,  no,  that  would  be  too  cruel — to  Captain  Haney. 
No;  we  go  to  the  theatre.  So  be  on  hand  at  7  P.M., 
sharp." 

In  this  way  she  had  prepared  her  friends  to  be  sur 
prised  by  Bertha's  good  looks  and  the  Captain's  tame 
and  courteous  manner,  but  was  herself  soundly  jarred 
when  her  "wild- West  people"  came  up  to  the  door  in 
an  auto-car  that  must  have  cost  five  or  six  thousand 
dollars,  and  when  a  colored  footman,  in  bottle-green 
uniform,  leaped  out  to  open  the  door  for  them  (it  was 
Lucius  in  his  new  suit — he  was  playing  all  the  parts). 
Brent,  with  a  comical  look  at  his  wife,  remarked:  "I 
suppose  this  is  in  lieu  of  broncos?" 

182 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"They  are  branching  out!"  she  gasped.  "And  see 
her  clothes!" 

She  might  well  exclaim,  for  Bertha,  in  her  long  cloak, 
her  head  bare,  and  her  pretty  dress  showing,  did  not  in 
the  least  resemble  the  picture  Miss  Franklin  had  drawn ; 
neither  did  she  resemble  the  demure,  almost  sullen  girl 
Mrs.  Brent  had  met  in  the  hotel.  The  Captain,  too, 
for  the  second  time  in  his  life,  wore  evening  dress,  but 
clung  to  his  sombrero;  so  that  he  resembled  a  Ten 
nessee  congressman  at  the  Inaugural  Ball  as  he  came 
slowly  up  the  short  walk,  and  Mrs.  Brent  deeply  re 
gretted  that  no  one  was  present  to  take  the  shock  with 
herself  and  the  doctor. 

The  maid  at  the  door,  who  knew  nothing  of  the  wild 
reputation  of  the  Haneys,  guided  them  up-stairs  to  their 
respective  dressing-rooms,  and  helped  to  remove  their 
wraps  so  expeditiously  that  they  were  on  their  way 
back  to  the  first  floor  before  any  other  guests  arrived. 
Bertha  was  delighted  but  not  awed  by  the  fine  room 
into  which  they  were  ushered,  for  was  not  her  own 
house  larger  and  more  splendid?  She  had  grown 
accustomed  to  big  things — it  was  the  tasteful  beauty 
of  the  room  that  moved  her. 

In  the  side  of  the  room  a  big  plain  brick  fireplace  was 
filled  with  a  crackling  fire,  and  in  the  light  of  it  stood 
her  host  and  hostess.  Bertha  was  glad  to  find  them 
alone — she  had  expected  to  face  a  room  full  of  people. 
She  was  not  specially  attracted  to  Dr.  Brent,  and  re 
mained  so  coldly  restrained  that  he  was  quite  baffled 
and  turned  away  to  the  Captain,  who  sought  the  fire, 
saying:  "This  looks  good.  I  feel  the  cold  now — I 
don't  know  why  I  should." 

This  opened  the  way  to  a  very  confidential  talk  on 
wounds  and  diet. 

13  183 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Bertha's  new  gown  of  pale  blue  made  her  look  very 
young  and  very  sweet,  and  the  eager  guests  were  sadly 
disappointed  in  her  —  that  is  to  say,  the  ladies  were; 
the  men  seemed  quite  content  with  her  as  she  was. 
They  took  the  "biscuit-shooter"  description  to  be  a 
piece  of  fooling  on  Mrs.  Brent's  part,  and  as  they  had 
no  time  after  dinner  to  get  the  Captain  started  they 
remained  quite  convinced  that  he,  too,  had  been  malign 
ed  in  their  hostess's  description. 

As  a  result,  Mrs.  Brent  and  her  other  guests  were 
forced  to  do  the  talking,  for  Bertha  had  not  only  warned 
Mart  against  reminiscence,  but  had  determined  to  keep 
a  tight  hold  on  her  own  tongue ;  and  though  she  listened 
with  the  alertness  of  a  bird,  she  answered  only  in  curt 
phrase,  making  "yes"  and  "no"  do  their  full  duty. 
She  perceived  that  the  people  round  her  were  of  in 
tellectual  companionship  to  the  Crego  and  Congdon 
circles,  and  these  young  men,  so  easy  and  graceful  of 
manner,  reminded  her  of  Ben.  None  of  them  were  en 
tirely  strange  to  her  now,  and  yet  she  dimly  apprehend 
ed  something  uncomplimentary  veiled  beneath  their 
polite  regard.  She  did  not  entirely  trust  any  of  them 
— not  even  her  host.  Indeed,  she  liked  Mrs.  Brent  less 
than  at  their  first  meeting  in  the  hotel. 

The  dinner  was  rather  hurried,  and  they  would  have 
been  late  had  it  not  been  for  Haney's  new  auto-car, 
which  carried  six,  and  made  two  trips  to  the  station 
unnecessary.  It  was  fine  to  see  the  Captain  put  his 
machine  at  the  disposal  of  his  hostess.  "I  told  Lucius 
to  wait,"  he  boasted,  "I  thought  we  might  need  him." 

Dr.  Brent  succeeded  at  last  in  drawing  his  pretty 
guest  into  conversation  by  remarking  on  the  Captain's 
color.  "He's  feeding  improperly,  if  you  don't  mind 
my  saying  so.  He's  putting  on  weight,  he  tells  me, 

184 


MONEY    MAGIC 

but  feels  cold  and  nerveless.     Cut  him  down  on  starchy 
foods.     How  long  is  it  since  he  was  hurt?" 

"About  eight  months." 

"Must  have  been  a  tearing  beast  of  an  accident  to 
wing  a  man  of  his  frame." 

"It  was.     Tore  his  whole  side  to  pieces." 

"Who  put  him  together — Steele,  of  Denver?" 

"No,  a  man  in  Cripple." 

"Sure  he  was  the  right  man?" 

"He  was  the  best  I  could  get." 

"You  arouse  my  professional  egotism.  I'd  like  to 
examine  the  Captain  if  you  don't  object — not  for  any 
fee,  you  understand.  But  a  fellow  of  his  build  and 
years — he  tells  me  he's  only  forty-five — " 

"  Only  forty-five,"  thought  the  girl.  "  What  strange 
ideas  these  older  people  have!  And  Ben  was  twenty- 
six."  Just  what  the  doctor  said  afterwards  she  didn't 
hear,  for  she  was  thinking  of  the  swift,  wide  arc  of 
change  through  which  her  mind  had  swung  from  the 
time  when  Marshall  Haney  first  came  to  Sibley  —  so 
grand  of  stride,  so  erect,  so  powerful.  He,  too,  seemed 
young  then ;  now  he  was  old — old  and  feeble — a  man 
to  be  advised,  protected,  humored.  She  dimly  under 
stood,  too,  that  corresponding  change  had  come  to  her; 
that  she  was  far  away  from  the  girl  who  had  stood  be 
hind  the  counter  defending  herself  against  the  love- 
making  of  the  bummers  and  drummers  among  her  pa 
trons — and  yet  she  was  the  same,  after  all.  "I've  not 
changed  as  much  as  he  has,"  was  her  conclusion.  And 
she  enjoyed  the  gayety  and  beauty  of  her  companions, 
but  she  said  little  to  express  it. 

The  play  that  night  appalled  her  by  its  fury  of 
passion,  its  mockery  of  woman,  its  cynical  disbelief 
in  man.  With  startling  abruotness  and  in  most 

185 


MONEY    MAGIC 

colloquial  method  it  delineated  the  beginning  of  a 
young  wife's  wrong-doing,  and  when  the  lover  caught 
the  innocent,  ensnared  woman  to  his  bosom  a  flam 
ing  sword  seemed  to  have  been  plunged  into  Bertha's 
own  breast.  She  quivered  and  flushed.  And  when  the 
actress  displayed  the  awakened  conscience  of  the  erring 
one,  putting  into  words  as  well  as  into  facial  expression 
her  feeling  of  guilt  and  remorse,  the  girl -wife  in  the 
box  shrank  and  whitened,  her  big  eyes  fixed  upon  the 
sobbing,  suffering  character  before  her,  defending  her 
self  against  the  dramatist  as  against  an  enemy.  He 
was  a  liar!  There  was  no  wrong  in  Ben's  kiss  and  no 
remorse  in  her  own  heart  as  she  remembered  the  caress. 
"Even  if  he  loves  me,  that  doesn't  make  him  horrible!" 

The  dramatist  went  remorselessly  on.  He  showed 
the  husband — old,  coarse,  brutal.  He  put  him  in  sharp 
est  relief  in  order  that  the  woman  should  be  tempted 
to  her  ruin,  and  in  the  end  the  lover — virile,  handsome 
and  unscrupulous — wins  the  tortured  woman's  soul — 
and  they  flee,  leaving  the  usual  note  behind. 

"What  can  you  expect  ?"  remarked  the  cynical  friend 
of  the  injured  husband.  "Given  a  young  and  lovely 
wife  like  Rose  and  an  old  limping  warrior  like  you,  and 
an  elopement  follows  as  a  matter  of  course,  Q.  E.  D." 
And  so  the  curtain  fell. 

Relentless  realist  in  the  first  act,  the  dramatist  in  the 
second  act  began  to  hedge.  He  made  the  life  of  the 
erring  woman  conventionally  miserable.  Her  lover  beat 
her,  neglected  her,  and  finally  deserted  her.  And  in 
the  last  act  she  crawled  back  into  her  husband's  home 
like  a  starved  cat  to  die,  while  he,  scarred  old  beast, 
cried  out:  "The  wages  of  sin  is  death!"  Whether  the 
writer  intended  this  scene  to  be  ironical  or  not,  the 
effect  was  to  awaken  a  murmur  of  laughter  among  the 

186 


MONEY    MAGIC 

ill-restrained  of  the  auditors.  But  Bertha,  hot  with 
anger  towards  both  author  and  players,  could  not  join 
in  Mrs.  Brent's  smiling  comment:  "Isn't  that  comical!" 

The  doctor  coolly  said:  "A  good  conventional  Brit 
ish  ending.  Why  didn't  he  clap  a  pair  of  wings  on  the 
old  reprobate  and  run  him  up  on  a  wire,  the  way  they 
used  to  do  in  translating  little  Eva  in  'Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin'?" 

Afterwards  Mrs.  Brent  proposed  that  they  go  to  a 
German  restaurant  and  have  some  beer  and  skittles; 
but  this  struck  harshly  on  Bertha,  who  still  palpitated 
with  the  passion  of  the  play.  "I  reckon  we'd  better 
not.  The  Captain  is  pretty  tired,  and,  if  you  don't 
mind,  we'll  quit  now." 

Without  saying  "I've  had  a  lovely  time,"  she  shook 
hands  all  round,  and,  taking  her  husband's  arm,  moved 
off  into  the  street,  leaving  her  hostess  a  little  uneasy  and 
wholly  perplexed.  Mrs.  Brent's  joke  about  the  Cap 
tain  and  his  wife  had,  as  the  doctor  expressed  it, 
"  queered  the  whole  affair." 

"But  how  did  she  know?" 

4 'She's  a  good  deal  sharper  than  you  gave  her  credit 
for  being,"  he  replied.  "You  Easterners  never  can 
learn  to  take  diamonds  in  the  rough." 

Bertha's  mind  was  in  tumult,  and  she  wished  to  be 
alone.  Mart  irritated  her.  She  refused  to  talk  to  him 
about  the  play  or  the  dinner,  and,  turning  him  over  to 
Lucius,  went  at  once  to  her  own  bed.  Thus  far  she 
had  not  attempted  to  closely  analyze  her  relationship 
to  Marshall  Haney.  He  had  been  to  her  a  good  friend 
rather  than  a  husband,  a  companion  who  needed  her, 
and  who  had  given  her  everything  she  asked  for. 
Keenly  forward,  almost  precocious  on  the  calculative 
side,  she  had  remained  singularly  untroubled  on  the 

187 


MONEY    MAGIC 

emotional  side.  She  knew  that  certain  problems  of  sex 
existed  in  the  world,  and  she  was  only  mentally  aware 
of  temptations — she  had  never  really  felt  them.  Now 
all  at  once  her  whole  nature  awoke.  Her  mind  engaged 
a  legion  of  vaguely  defined  enemies.  Out  of  the  shadow 
stepped  words  of  no  weight,  of  no  significance  hitherto, 
encircling  her,  panoplied  with  meaning.  The  half -heard 
comment  of  the  camp,  the  dimly  perceived  gossip  of  the 
Springs,  the  flattering  looks  of  the  artists — -all  helped 
her  to  see  herself  as  she  was:  a  handsome  young  girl, 
like  that  on  the  stage,  married  to  a  crippled  middle- 
aged  man  of  evil  history. 

"But  he  is  good  to  me,"  she  argued  against  her  new 
self.  "I  was  poor,  and  he  has  made  me  rich;  and  all 
I've  done  is  to  nurse  him  and  keep  house  for  him." 
With  this  thought  came  a  realization  that  she  had 
never  been  a  full  and  complete  wife  to  him.  And  with 
a  flush  of  shame  and  repulsion  she  added:  "And  now  I 
never  can  be.  No  matter  if  he  were  to  become  as 
straight,  as  strong,  and  as  handsome  as  he  was  in  those 
days,  I  cannot  love  him  as  a  wife  should." 

Once  having  admitted  this  feeling  of  repulsion,  once 
having  clearly  perceived  the  vast  distance  between 
herself  and  her  husband,  the  repulsion  deepened,  the 
separating  space  widened.  He  seemed  ten  years  older 
as  they  met  next  morning,  and  his  face  was  heavy  and 
his  frame  lax.  Her  pity  had  not  lessened,  but  it  was 
mixed  now  with  a  qualifying  emotion  which  she  had 
not  yet  acknowledged  to  be  disgust.  His  skin  was 
waxy  white  and  his  jowls  drooping.  "I'm  not  at  all 
up  to  the  work,"  he  said,  with  a  return  of  his  humor. 
'  'Tis  a  killing  pace  we've  struck,  Bertie,  and  the  old 
man  must  take  the  flag  if  you  keep  it  up." 

"I  don't  intend  to  keep  it  up,"  she  answered,  short- 
188 


MONEY    MAGIC 

ly.  "I  think  we'd  better  go  home."  At  the  word 
"home"  a  little  thrill  went  through  her.  It  was  so 
bright  and  big  and  desirable,  that  mansion  under  the 
purple  peaks. 

"No;  I  must  go  trail  up  me  old  dad,  and  leave  him 
provided  for.  Fan  doesn't  even  know  his  address  (the 
more  shame  to  her),  but  I'll  find  him.  If  ye're  tired 
and  would  rather  go  home,  I'll  go  on  alone." 

"Oh  no,  you  mustn't  do  that!"  she  exclaimed  in 
stantly,  feeling  the  sincerity  of  his  desire  to  please  her. 
"I'll  go,  but  we  mustn't  stay  long."  And  she  took  up 
the  direction  of  his  life  again.  The  mood  of  the  night 
had  passed  away,  leaving  only  a  clearer  perception  of 
his  growing  age  and  helplessness. 

"You  must  let  Dr.  Brent  examine  you,"  she  said,  a 
little  later.  "He  don't  think  your  lameness  is  caused 
by  your  wound.  He  says  you're  out  of  condition." 

He  looked  at  her  with  shadowed  face  and  sorrowful 
eyes.  "I'm  only  a  poor  old  skate,  wind-broken  and 
lazy.  Ye  have  the  right  to  cut  me  loose  any  time." 

"You  mustn't  talk  like  that,"  she  said,  sharply. 
"When  I  want  to  cut  loose  I'll  let  you  know." 

"I  hold  ye  to  that,"  he  answered,  with  intent  look. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

BERTHA  BECOMES  A  PATRON  OF  ART 

BERTHA,  deeply  engrossed  in  the  conceptions 
called  up  by  this  visit,  did  not  feel  like  calling 
upon  the  Mosses,  even  though  they  were  almost  next 
door.  She  was  troubled,  too,  with  a  feeling  of  help 
lessness  in  the  use  of  a  pen.  She  wanted  to  write  to 
Fordyce,  but  was  afraid  to  do  so,  knowing  that  a  letter 
would  disclose  her  ignorance  of  polite  forms;  but  this, 
instead  of  discouraging  her,  roused  her  to  a  determina 
tion  to  learn.  This  was  the  saving  clause  in  her  charac 
ter.  She  acknowledged  shortcomings,  but  not  defeats. 
Here  again  she  was  of  the  spirit  that  lifts  the  self-made 
man. 

The  Congdons  had  been  most  generous  of  letters  of 
introduction,  and  in  addition  to  those  to  Mrs.  Brent 
and  the  Mosses,  Bertha  was  in  possession  of  two  or 
three  envelopes  addressed  to  people  in  New  York  City, 
presumably  artists  also,  as  they  bore  the  names  of 
certain  studios.  The  note  to  Moss  was  unaffected  and 
simple  in  itself,  quite  innocent  of  any  qualification,  but 
the  letter  which  had  privately  preceded  it  was  in  the 
true  Congdon  vein,  and  Moss,  like  Mrs.  Brent,  did  not 
delay  his  call.  His  card  was  in  the  Haney  box  when 
they  returned.  "Sorry  to  miss  you.  Come  into  my 
studio  at  five  if  you  can,"  he  had  pencilled  on  the  back. 

"Your  artistic  bunch,"  Congdon  had  written,  "won't 
190 


MONEY    MAGIC 

mind  meeting  one  of  the  most  successful  and  pictu 
resque  of  our  gamblers,  Marshall  Haney,  especially  as 
the  walls  of  his  big  house  are  bare  and  his  wife  is  pretty. 
They  are  ripping  types,  old  man;  not  in  the  'best  so 
ciety,'  you  understand,  but  I  know  you'll  like  'em. 
Be  as  good  to  'em  as  you  can  without  involving  any 
body.  Little  Mrs.  Haney  is  a  corker.  Good  start  on 
a  self-made  career.  They're  both  unsophisticated  in  a 
way,  and  a  little  real  sympathy  will  drag  their  secret 
history  to  the  light.  Do  a  sketch  of  her  for  me.  She's 
likely  to  be  famous.  Haney  is  rolling  in  dough  these 
days — (miner) — and  she's  bound  for  some  whooping 
big  thing,  I  don't  know  what,  but  she's  like  a  country 
boy  with  a  stirring  ambition.  It  wouldn't  surprise  me 
to  see  her  on  Fifth  Avenue  one  of  these  days.  With 
these  few  burning  words  I  commend  them  into  your 
plastic  hands.  Don't  let  Sammy  paint  her,  for  God's 
sake.  Oh  yes,  I  worked  'em  for  a  couple  of  canvases. 
What  do  you  think.  In  this  buoyant  climate  we  all 
move.  Yours  in  the  velvet." 

With  such  a  letter  before  him  Joe  Moss  awaited  his 
amazing  guests  with  impatience,  cautioning  the  few 
who  were  in  the  secret  not  to  dodge  when  the  Captain 
reached  for  his  pocket-handkerchief.  "And,  above  all, 
you  are  to  praise  Colorado  and  condemn  the  East  as  a 
place  of  residence."  Joe  prided  himself  on  his  savoir 
faire  and  on  his  apparel,  which  had  nothing  about  it 
to  distinguish  the  sculptor.  "In  fact,"  he  often  said, 
"there  are  people  who  say  I'm  not  a  sculptor.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  I  manage  by  daily  care  to  look  like  a 
clerk  in  a  hardware  store." 

And  he  did.  He  customarily  wore  a  suit  of  pepper 
and  salt,  neat  and  trig,  a  "bowler  hat"  (as  they  say  in 
London),  a  ready-made  four-in-hand  tie,  and  a  small 

191 


MONEY    MAGIC 

pearl  scarf-pin.  "No  more  fuzzy  hair  for  me,  no  red 
tie,  no  dandruff,"  he  had  said  on  his  return  from  Paris. 
"Right  here  we  melt  into  the  undistinguishable  ocean 
of  the  millions,  unless  we  can  be  distinguished  by  reason 
of  our  sculpture."  He  always  included  Julia,  his  wife, 
in  this  way  (although  she  never  "modelled  a  lick"),  for 
she  wrote  all  his  letters,  made  out  all  his  checks,  and 
took  charge  of  him  generally.  Some  said  his  success 
was  due  to  her  management.  She  was  a  dark-eyed, 
smiling  little  woman,  exquisite  in  her  dress  and  brisk 
in  her  manner. 

Their  studio  occupied  the  whole  north  side  of  the 
attic  of  a  big  office  building  in  the  heart  of  the  city's 
traffic.  ' '  We  want  to  be  in  the  midst  of  trade,  but  above 
it,"  Moss  explained  to  those  who  wondered  at  his  choice 
of  location.  "Sculpture,  as  I  see  it,  is  a  part  of  archi 
tecture.  I'm  not  above  modelling  a  door-knocker  if 
they'll  only  let  me  do  it  my  way.  Sculpture  was  a  part 
of  life  in  the  old  days,  and  we  don't  want  to  make  it  a 
thing  too  'precious'  now.  I  want  to  get  close  to  the 
business  men,  not  to  avoid  them.  I  like  the  roar  of 
trade." 

The  Haneys,  therefore,  led  by  the  sagacious  Lucius, 
soon  found  themselves  in  the  Wisconsin  Block,  and 
shooting  aloft  in  a  bronze  elevator  that  seemed  fired 
from  a  cannon  ("express  to  the  loth  floor"),  with 
nothing  to  suggest  art  in  the  men  or  in  the  signs  about 
them.  On  the  thirteenth  story  they  alighted,  and, 
walking  up  one  flight  of  stairs,  found  themselves  at 
the  end  of  a  bright  hall,  before  a  door  which  bore,  in 
simple  gold  letters,  "Jos.  Moss,  Sculptor."  Bertha 
heard  laughter  within,  and  her  heart  misgave  her.  It 
was  not  easy  for  her  to  meet  these  artist  folk.  Of  busi 
ness  men,  miners,  railway  managers  she  was  unafraid, 

192 


MONEY    MAGIC 

but  these  people  who  joke  and  bully-rag  each  other  and 
talk  high  philosophy  one  minute  and  gossip  the  next, 
like  the  Congdons,  were  "pretty  swift"  for  her.  After 
a  moment's  pause  she  said  to  the  Captain,  "They  can't 
kill  us;  here  goes!"  and  knocked  gently. 

Moss  himself  opened  the  door,  and  his  cordial,  "How 
de  do,  Mrs.  Haney,"  established  him  in  her  mind  at 
once  as  a  good  fellow.  He  was  quite  as  direct  as  Cong- 
don.  "I'm  glad  to  see  you,"  he  said  to  the  Captain. 
"Come  in."  He  looked  keenly  at  Lucius,  who  compos 
edly  explained  himself.  "The  Captain  is  a  little  lame, 
and  I  just  came  along  to  see  that  he  got  here  all  right. 
I'll  be  back  at  5.30." 

The  door  opened  into  a  big  room,  which  was  darkened 
at  the  windows  and  lighted  by  shaded  electric  globes. 
It  was  cool  and  bare  in  effect.  Around  a  small  table 
in  a  far  corner  a  half-dozen  people  were  sitting.  Mrs. 
Moss,  who  was  pouring  tea,  rose  in  her  place  at  the  tea- 
urn  as  her  husband  approached,  and  cordially  shook 
hands  with  her  guests.  "I'm  very  glad  you  came. 
Please  tell  me  how  you'll  have  your  tea,"  she  said. 

Bertha  was  accustomed  to  take  her  tea  "any  old 
way,"  and  said  so,  being  influenced  by  Mrs.  Moss' 
candid  eyes  and  merry  smile.  Haney,  with  a  queer 
feeling  of  being  on  the  stage  as  a  character  in  a  play, 
sank  heavily  into  the  chair  at  his  hostess'  right  hand 
and  said:  "I  never  took  tea  in  my  life,  but  I'm  not 
dodgin'  anything  you  mix." 

Joe  earnestly  protested.  "Don't  do  it,  Captain, 
there's  some  Scotch  down  cellar." 

Mrs.  Moss  indicated  one  or  two  other  dimly  seen  faces 
about  her  and  introduced  their  owners  in  a  most  cas 
ual  manner  while  she  compounded  a  hot  drink  for  her 
Western  guest. 

193 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"How  long  have  you  been  in  our  horrible  town,  Mr. 
Haney?"  she  asked,  heedful  of  Joe's  warning. 

"One  day,  ma'am." 

"You're  just  'passing  through,'  I  presume — that's 
the  way  all  Colorado  people  do." 

Haney  smiled.  He  was  getting  the  drift  of  her  re 
marks.  *  'Tis  natural,  ma'am;  for,  you  see,  'tis  a  long 
run  and  a  heavy  grade,  and  hard  to  side-track  on  the 
way." 

Bertha,  to  whom  Moss  addressed  himself,  was  can 
didly  looking  about  her — profoundly  interested  in  what 
she  saw.  Dim  forms  in  bronze  and  plaster  stood  on 
shelves,  brackets,  and  pedestals,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
long  room  a  big  group  of  figures  writhed  as  if  in  mortal 
combat.  It  was  a  work-shop — -that  was  evident  even 
to  her — with  one  small  nook  devoted  to  tea  and  talk. 

"Would  you  like  to  poke  about  ?"  he  asked,  anticipat 
ing  her  request. 

"Yes,  I  would,"  she  bluntly  replied. 

"There  isn't  much  to  see,"  he  said.  "I'm  the  kind  of 
sculptor  who  works  on  order.  I  believe  in  the  'art  for 
service'  idea,  and  when  I  get  an  order  I  fill  it  as  well  as 
I  can,  make  it  as  beautiful  as  I  can,  and  send  it  out 
on  its  mission.  I'd  like  to  model  mantel -pieces  and 
andirons,  because  they  are  seen  and  actually  influence 
people's  lives.  What  I  started  to  say  was  this:  my  stuff 
all  goes  out — my  real  stuff;  my  fool  failures  stay  by  me 
— this  thing,  for  instance."  He  indicated  the  big  clump 
of  nude  forms.  "I  had  an  'idea'  when  I  started,  but 
it  was  too  ambitious  and  too  literary.  Moreover,  it 
isn't  democratic.  It  don't  gibe  with  the  present.  I'd 
be  a  wild-animal  sculptor  if  I  knew  enough  about 
them." 

It  was  a  profoundly  moving  experience  for  this  raw 
194 


MONEY    MAGIC 

mountain-bred  girl  to  stand  there  beside  that  colossal 
group  while  the  man  who  had  modelled  it  took  her  into 
his  confidence.  There  was  no  affectation  in  Moss's 
candor.  He  had  come  to  a  swift  conclusion  that 
Congdon  had  attempted  to  let  him  into  a  trap,  for 
Bertha's  reticence  and  dignity  quite  reassured  him. 
If  she  had  uttered  a  single  one  of  the  banal  compli 
ments  with  which  visitors  "kill"  artists  he  would  have 
stopped  short;  but  she  didn't,  she  only  looked,  and 
something  in  her  face  profoundly  interested  him.  Sud 
denly  she  turned  and  said: 

"Tell  me  what  it  means." 

"It  don't  mean  anything — now.  Originally  I  in 
tended  it  to  mean  '  The  Conquest  of  Art  by  the  Spirit 
of  Business,'  or  something  like  that.  I  started  it  when 
I  was  fresh  from  Paris,  and  wore  a  red  tie  and  a  pointed 
beard.  I  keep  it  as  a  record  of  the  folly  into  which  ex 
otic  instruction  will  lead  a  man.  If  I  were  to  go  at  it 
now  I'd  turn  the  whole  thing  around — I'd  make  it  'Art 
Inspiring  Business."1 

Bertha  did  not  follow  his  thought  entirely,  but  she 
felt  herself  in  the  presence  of  a  serious  problem  and 
listening  to  something  deep  down  in  the  heart  of  a 
strong  man.  Here  was  another  world  —  not  an  alto 
gether  strange  world,  for  Congdon  had  also  talked  to 
her  of  his  work — but  a  world  so  far  removed  from  her 
own  life  that  it  seemed  some  other  planet.  "How  well 
he  talks,"  she  thought.  "Like  a  book." 

"How  charming  she  is,"  he  was  thinking.  And  the 
alert,  aspiring  pose  of  her  head  made  his  thumb  ner 
vously  munch  at  the  bit  of  clay  he  had  picked  up. 

They  wandered  up  and  down  the  long  room  while 
he  showed  her  tiles  for  mantel  decoration,  bronze  cats' 
heads  for  door-knobs,  and  curious  and  lovely  figures  for 


MONEY    MAGIC 

lamps  and  ash-trays.  "I  take  a  shy  at  'most  every 
thing,"  he  explained. 

"Do  you  sell  these?"  she  asked,  indicating  some 
designs  for  electric  desk-lamps. 

He  smiled.  "Sometimes — not  as  often  as  I'd  like 
to." 

"How  much  are  they?" 

"Fifty  dollars  each." 

"I'll  take  them  both,"  she  said,  and  her  pulse  leaped 
with  the  pride  of  being  a  patron  of  art. 

"Now  see  here,  Mrs.  Haney,  I'm  not  displaying  these 
to  you  as  a  salesman  —  not  that  I'm  so  very  delicate 
about  offering  my  things,  but  I  try  to  wait  till  a  second 
visit."  He  really  did  feel  mean  about  it.  "Don't 
take  'em — wait  till  to-morrow.  They're  pretty  mid 
dling  bad  anyway.  They're  supposed  to  be  mountain 
lions,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  I  never  saw  a  mountain 
lion  outside  the  Zoo." 

"They're  lions,  all  right.  I  want  'em,  and  I  know 
the  Captain  will  like  'em."  She  stepped  back  to  call 
Haney.  But  finding  him  surrounded  by  all  of  the  other 
callers  (they  had  "got  him  going"  telling  stories  of  his 
wild  life  in  the  West) ,  she  turned  to  the  sculptor  with 
a  smile,  saying:  "Never  mind,  /  know  they're  what  he 
needs — if  he  don't."  And  Moss,  recalling  Congdon's 
description  of  the  Haney s'  material  condition,  an 
swered:  "Very  well,  if  you  insist;  but  I  really  feel  as 
though  I  had  played  a  confidence  game  on  you." 

"Can  you  fix  'em  up  with  lights?"  she  asked,  eager 
as  a  child.  "I  mean  right  now." 

"Certainly."  He  unscrewed  a  couple  of  small  bulbs 
from  a  near-by  bracket,  and,  putting  them  into  place  on 
the  lamps,  turned  on  the  current.  She  laughed  out  in 
delight.  One  of  the  lions  was  playing  with  the  stem 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

which  supported  the  light.  As  if  rising  from  a  sleep, 
he  lay  upholding  the  globe  on  one  high-raised  paw. 
The  other — a  counterpart,  or  nearly  so  in  pose — had  a 
different  expression.  The  cub  was  snarling  and  clutch 
ing  at  the  light,  as  if  it  were  a  bird  about  to  escape. 

' '  I  had  an  idea  of  putting  them  on  the  corners  of  a 
mantel  to  light  a  piece  of  low  relief,"  he  explained,  "but 
I  never  got  at  the  relief.  It  ought  to  be  characteristic 
Western  scenery,  and  I ' ve  never  seen  the  West.  Shame 
ful,  isn't  it?" 

"I  want  you  to  do  that  mantel  for  me,"  she  said. 
"I  don't  know  what  you  mean  by  'low  relief,'  but  I 
know  it  would  be  up  to  these,  and  they  are  right!" 

"Your  trust  in  me  is  beautiful,  Mrs.  Haney,  and  may 
be  I'll  come  out  this  summer  and  try  to  meet  it." 

"I  wish  you  would,"  she  said,  and  she  meant  it. 
"I'll  show  you  Colorado." 

"If  you're  starting  to  be  a  patron  of  art,  Mrs.  Haney, 
don't  overlook  Congdon;  he's  a  first-class  man."  He 
became  humorous  again.  "We're  moving  swiftly,  but 
I'm  going  to  tell  you  that  he  wanted  me  to  make  a 
sketch  of  you.  If  you'll  be  so  good  as  to  give  me  two 
or  three  sittings,  I'll  do  something  we  can  send  out  to 
him — if  you  wish." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  a  sketch?" 

"Something  like  this,"  And,  leading  her  before  a 
curious,  half -human,  veiled  object,  he  began  to  unwind 
damp  yellow  cloths  till  at  last  the  head  of  a  young 
woman  appeared  on  a  small  revolving  stand.  It  was 
very  dainty,  very  sweet,  and  smiling. 

Bertha  was  puzzled.  "It  ain't  your  wife,  and  yet  it 
looks  like  her." 

"It  is  my  wife's  sister — a  quick  study  from  life — just 
the  kind  of  thing  Frank  wants.  Will  you  sit  for  me? 

197 


MONEY    MAGIC 

A  couple  of  mornings  will  answer."  He  was  eager  to 
do  her  now.  Her  profile,  so  clear,  so  firm,  so  strangely 
boyish,  pleased  him.  He  could  feel  the  "snap"  that 
the  sketch  would  have  when  it  was  done. 

Bertha  considered.  She  owed  a  great  deal  to  the 
Congdons,  and  she  liked  this  man.  Her  homesickness 
at  the  moment  was  abated,  and  to  stay  two,  or  even 
three,  days  in  Chicago  promised  at  the  moment  to  be 
not  so  dreadful,  after  all. 

"Yes,  I'll  do  it,"  she  decided.  "I  don't  know  what 
Mr.  Congdon  will  do  with  a  picture  of  me,  but  that's 
his  funeral. ' '  And  her  laughing  lip  made  her  seem  again 
the  untaught  girl  she  really  was. 

As  they  went  back  to  the  group  around  the  Captain, 
Julia  Moss  treated  her  husband  to  a  glance  of  com 
miseration,  thinking  him  a  bored  and  defeated  man. 
"You've  missed  the  Captain's  racy  talk,"  she  whis 
pered. 

Haney  was  enjoying  himself  very  well  in  the  "centre 
of  the  stage,"  and  doing  himself  credit.  Never  in  his 
life  had  he  known  a  keener  audience  than  these  artists, 
who  studied  him  from  every  point  of  view. 

"Yes,"  Haney  was  saying,  "'tis  possible  to  bust  a 
bank  if  the  game  is  straight — that  is,  at  faro;  but  most 
machine  games  are  built  so  that  'the  house' — that 
is,  the  bank — is  protected.  My  machines  was  always 
straight.  I'd  as  soon  turn  a  sausage-grinder  as  run  a 
wheel  that  was  'fixed'  in  me  favor." 

Bertha  did  not  like  this  talk  of  his  abandoned  trade, 
and  her  cheeks  burned  as  she  put  her  hand  on  his 
shoulder.  "I  reckon  we'd  better  be  going." 

He  recovered  himself.  "Of  course  I  quit  all  that 
when  I  married,"  he  explained,  and  dutifully  rose. 

"Oh,  Mrs.  Haney,"  pleaded  Mrs.  Moss,  "don't  take 
198 


MONEY    MAGIC 

him  away!  We  were  just  getting  light  on  the  game 
of  faro.  Please  sit  down  again." 

Bertha  resented  this  tone.  "No,  we've  got  to  go. 
Glad  to  have  met  you."  She  nodded  towards  the  men 
who  had  risen.  "Much  obliged,"  she  said  again  to 
Moss.  "I'll  send  for  them  things  to-morrow." 

Mrs.  Moss  cordially  insisted  on  their  coming  again. 

"She's  going  to  pose  for  me,"  reported  Moss.  "To 
morrow  morning  at  ten?"  he  inquired. 

"Ten  suits  me  as  well  as  any  time,"  Bertha  replied. 

Mrs.  Moss  beamed  at  Haney.  "You  come,  too, 
Captain.  I  want  to  know  more  about  those  delightful 
games  of  chance." 

Bertha  went  back  to  her  hotel  with  throbbing  brain. 
The  day  had  been  so  full  of  experience!  She  was  tired 
out  and  fairly  bewildered  by  it  all. 

As  her  excitement  ebbed  and  she  had  time  to  recover 
her  own  point  of  view,  Colorado,  her  home,  the  Springs, 
and  the  memory  of  her  own  people  came  rushing  back 
upon  her,  making  the  city  and  all  it  contained  but  a 
handful  of  east  wind.  Ben's  kiss  burned  vividly  again 
upon  her  lips.  "Was  it  wrong  of  him  to  say  what  he 
did?"  she  began  to  ask  herself.  A  good-bye  kiss  would 
not  have  so  deeply  stirred  her;  it  was  his  face,  his 
voice,  his  intensely  uttered  words  which  deeply  thrilled 
her,  even  now,  as  she  recalled  them  one  by  one.  "You 
are  beautiful  and  I  love  you."  These  were  the  most 
important  words  to  a  woman,  and  they  had  come  at 
last  to  her. 

Then  her  cheek  flushed  with  shame  of  her  husband  as 
she  remembered  his  gambling  talk  at  the  studio.  "Why 
must  he  always  go  back  to  that?"  she  asked,  hotly. 

They  ate  their  dinner  in  the  big  dining-room  sur 
rounded  by  waiters,  while  the  Captain  discussed  his 
14  199 


MONEY    MAGIC 

sister  and  her  family.  "I'll  do  something  for  Fan," 
he  said.  "She's  a  different  sort  from  Charles.  McArdle 
seems  a  hard-workin'  chap,  the  kind  that  a  little  help 
wouldn't  spile.  What  do  you  think  of  buy  in'  them  a 
bit  of  a  house  somewhere?" 

Bertha  listened  with  a  languor  of  interest  new  to  her, 
and  when  he  repeated  his  question  and  asked  her  if  she 
were  tired,  she  answered:  "Yes;  and  I  think  I'll  go  to 
bed  early  to-night.  It's  been  a  hard  day." 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

BERTHA'S  PORTRAIT  is  DISCUSSED 

JOE  MOSS  was  delighted  with  the  Haneys,  for 
they  talked  of  their  native  West  as  people  should 
talk.  They  were  as  absolute  in  their  convictions  as  a 
Kentuckian.  For  them  there  was  no  other  "God's 
country,"  and  as  it  was  his  latest  dream  to  go  West  and 
"  do  a  big  thing  on  a  cliff  or  something  "  he  put  off  every 
other  engagement  to  enjoy  their  racy  speech.  He  said 
at  the  first  sitting:  "I've  had  an  idea  of  working  the 
Thorwaldsen  trick:  find  some  fine  site  out  there,  some 
wall  of  rock  close  to  the  railway,  and  hew  out  a  mon 
ster  grizzly  or  mountain  lion.  The  railway  could  then 
advertise  it,  you  see;  trains  could  stop  there  'five  min 
utes  to  permit  a  view  of  Moss's  Lion ' ;  they  could  use 
a  cut  of  it  on  all  their  folders.  If  there  was  a  spring 
near  by  they  could  advertise  the  water  and  bottle  it,  a 
picture  of  my  lion  on  the  label.  Ah,  it  is  a  fine  scheme !" 

"Tis  so,"  said  Haney.  "I  wonder  nobody  thought 
of  it  before." 

"It  takes  a  Yankee,  after  all,  to  plan  new  suspender 
buttons,"  the  sculptor  replied.  And  all  the  time  he 
talked  his  hands  were  dabbling,  his  thumbs  gouging, 
his  dibble  cutting  and  smoothing. 

Haney  watched  him  with  amused  glance.  "Sure,  I 
didn't  know  ye  went  at  it  so.  I  thought  ye  chipped 
each  picture  out  o'  stone."  And  when  the  process  of 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

molding  in  plaster  was  explained  to  him,  he  said:  "  Tis 
like  McArdle's  trade  entirely.  He  takes  a  rise  in  the 
world  since  I  know  he's  an  artist  like  yourself." 

"What  is  his  'line'?" 

"Pattern-maker  for  a  stove  foundry." 

Moss  beamed.  "Just  what  I'd  like  to  be  if  they'd 
only  pay  a  little  more  wages  and  furnish  a  better  place 
to  work." 

Bertha  never  knew  when  he  was  in  earnest,  so  ha 
bitually  mocking  was  his  tone.  But  she  grew  towards 
a  perception  of  his  ideal,  and  dimly  apprehended  in 
him  a  mind  far  beyond  any  she  had  ever  known.  Mrs. 
Moss,  almost  as  reticent  as  Mrs.  Haney  herself,  came 
and  went  about  the  studio  brightly,  briskly,  keeping 
vigilant  eye  on  her  husband's  mail,  moistening  his 
"mud  ladies,"  and  defending  him  from  inopportune  call 
ers,  insistent  beggars,  and  wandering  models.  Bertha, 
though  sitting  with  the  stolid  patience  of  a  Mississippi 
clam-fisher,  was  thinking  at  express  speed.  Her  mind 
was  of  that  highly  developed  type  where  a  hint  sets  in 
motion  a  score  of  related  cognitions,  and  a  word  here 
and  there  in  Moss's  rambling  remarks  instructed  her 
like  a  flash  of  light.  She  was  at  school,  in  a  high  sense, 
and  improving  her  time.  The  sketch  was  expanding 
into  a  carefully  studied  portrait  bust  and  Moss  was 
happy. 

One  day  a  fellow-artist  came  in  casually,  and  they 
both  squinted,  measured,  and  compared  the  portrait  and 
herself  with  the  calm  absorption  of  a  couple  of  prize- 
pig  committeemen  at  a  cattle -show.  "You  see,  this 
line  is  shorter,"  the  stranger  said,  almost  laying  his 
finger  on  Bertha's  neck.  "Not  so  straight,  as  you've 
got  it.  That's  a  fine  line—" 

"I  know  it  is!" 

202 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"And  you  don't  want  to  spoil  it.  I  don't  like  your 
fad  for  cutting  down  the  bust.  The  neck  is  nothing 
but  a  connecting  link  between  the  head  and  the  bust. 
Now  here  you  have  a  charming  and  youthful  head  and 
face — let  the  neck  at  least  suggest  the  woman  below." 

"Oh  yes,  that's  good  logic,  provided  you're  after 
that.  But  what  I  want  here  is  spring-time — just  a 
fresh,  alert,  lovely  fragment.  This  pure  line  must  be 
kept  free  from  any  earthiness." 

"I  suppose  you  know  what  you  want;  I  won't  say 
you  don't.  But  if  I  were  painting  her,  I'd  get  that 
sweeping  line  there  that  ends  by  suggesting  the  sum 
mer." 

They  talked  disjointedly,  elliptically,  and  of  course 
mainly  of  the  clay;  and  yet  Bertha  grew  each  moment 
more  clearly  aware  that  they  considered  her  not  merely 
interesting  but  beautiful,  and  this  was  a  most  momen 
tous  and  developing  assurance.  She  had  hoped  to  be 
called  "good-looking,"  but  no  one  thus  far  (excepting 
Ben  Fordyce)  had  ever  called  her  beautiful ;  and  these 
judgments  on  the  part  of  Joe  Moss  and  his  brother 
artist  were  made  the  more  moving  by  reason  of  their 
precision  of  knowledge  and  their  professional  candor. 
They  spoke  as  freely  in  discussion  of  her  charm  as  if 
she  were  deaf  and  dumb. 

The  painter,  who  had  been  introduced  in  a  careless 
way  as  "Mr.  Humiston,  of  New  York,"  turned  to  Bertha 
at  last,  and,  assuming  the  ordinary  politeness  of  a 
human  being,  said:  "I'd  like  to  make  a  study  of  you, 
too,  Mrs.  Haney,  if  you'll  permit.  I  can  bring  my 
canvas  in  here  and  work  with  Joe,  so  that  it  needn't 
be  any  trouble  to  you." 

Bertha,  her  wealth  still  new  upon  her,  had  no  sus 
picion  of  the  motives  of  those  who  addressed  her,  was 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

deeply  flattered  by  this  request,  and  as  Moss  made  no 
objection,  she  consented. 

The  only  thing  that  troubled  Moss  was  her  growing 
tendency  to  lapse  into  troubled  thought.  "Remember, 
now,  you're  the  crocus,  the  first  violet,  or  something  like 
that — not  the  last  rose  of  summer.  Don't  think,  don't 
droop!  There,  that's  right!  What  have  you  to  think 
or  droop  about?  When  you're  as  old  and  blase  as 
Humiston  there,  you'll  have  a  right  to  ponder  the 
mysteries,  but  not  now.  You  and  I  are  young,  thank 
God!" 

Humiston  was  dabbling  at  his  small  canvas  swiftly, 
lightly,  as  unmoved  by  his  fellow-artist  as  if  his  voice 
were  the  wind  in  the  casement.  He  was  a  tall,  sickly 
looking  man  with  grizzled  hair,  and  pale,  deeply  lined 
face.  He  was  fresh  from  Paris  with  a  small  exhibi 
tion  of  his  pictures,  which  were  very  advanced,  as  Mrs. 
Moss  privately  explained  to  Bertha.  "And  he's  rather 
bitter  against  Americans  because  they  don't  appreciate 
his  work.  But  Joe  asks:  'Why  should  they?'  They're 
undemocratic — little  high-keyed  'precious'  bits;  pict 
ures  for  other  artists,  not  real  paintings,  or  they  are 
unacceptable  otherwise.  He's  a  wonderful  technician, 
though,  and  he'll  make  an  exquisite  sketch  of  you." 

The  Western  girl- wife  was  completely  fascinated  by 
this  small,  dusky,  dim,  and  richly  colored  heart  of  the 
fierce  and  terrible  city  whose  material  bulk  alone  is 
known  to  the  world.  To  go  from  the  crash  and  roar  of 
the  savage  streets  into  this  studio  was  like  climbing  from 
the  level  of  the  water  in  the  Black  Canon  to  the  sunlit, 
grassy  peaks  where  the  Indian  pink  blossoms  in  silence. 
She  was  of  the  aspiring  nature.  She  had  commonly 
played  with  children  older  than  herself.  She  had  read 
books  she  could  not  understand.  She  had  always 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

reached  upward,  and  here  she  found  herself  surround 
ed  by  men  and  women  who  excited  her  imagination  as 
Congdon  had  done.  They  helped  her  forget  the  doubt 
of  herself  and  her  future,  which  was  gnawing  almost 
ceaselessly  in  her  brain,  and  she  was  sorry  when  Moss 
said  to  her:  ''Come  in  once  more,  to-morrow,  and  see 
me  do  the  real  sculptor's  act.  No,  don't  look  at  it" 
(he  flung  a  cloth  over  his  work) ;  ' '  you  may  look  at  it 
to-morrow." 

"May  I  see  my  picture?"  she  asked  of  Humiston. 

He  turned  the  easel  towards  her  without  a  word. 

"Good  work!"  cried  Moss. 

Mrs.  Moss  came  from  her  dark  corner.  "I  knew 
you'd  do  something  exquisite." 

Bertha  looked  at  it  in  silence.  It  was  as  lovely  in 
color  as  a  flower,  a  dream-girl,  not  Bertha  Haney.  And 
at  last  she  said:  "It's  fine,  but  it  isn't  me." 

Humiston  broke  forth  almost  violently.  "Of  course 
it  isn't  you;  it's  the  way  you  look  to  me.  I  never 
paint  people  as  they  look  to  themselves  nor  to  their 
friends.  I  am  painting  my  impression  of  you." 

"Do  you  really  see  me  like  that  ?"  she  both  asked  and 
exclaimed.  And  at  the  moment  she  was  more  moving 
than  she  had  ever  been  before,  and  Humiston,  in  a  voice 
of  anguish,  cried: 

"My  God,  why  didn't  I  do  her  like  that?"  And  he 
fell  to  coughing  so  violently  that  Bertha  shuddered. 

Moss  defended  himself.  "I  couldn't  do  her  in  all  her 
fine  poses,"  he  complained.  "I  had  to  select.  Why 
didn't  you  do  her  that  way  yourself?" 

The  painter  put  his  short-hand  sketch  away  with  a 
sigh.  "If  you  venture  as  far  as  New  York,  I  hope  you 
and  the  Captain  will  visit  my  studio,"  he  said. 

With  no  suspicion  of  being  passed  from  hand  to  hand, 
205 


MONEY    MAGIC 

she  promised  to  send  him  her  address,  and  said:  "I'd 
like  to  see  the  pictures  you  have  here." 

Moss  became  abusive.  "Now  see  here,  Jerry,  I  can't 
let  you  take  Mrs.  Haney  to  that  show  of  yours.  I'll 
go  myself  to  point  out  their  weak  points." 

' '  I  know  their  weak  points  a  bloody  sight  better  than 
you  do,"  answered  Humiston,  readily. 

"If  you  do  you  don't  speak  of  'em." 

"Why  should  I?  You  don't  call  out  the  defects  of 
your  'hardware,'  do  you?" 

Mrs.  Moss  interposed.  "That's  just  what  he  does 
do,  and  it  hurts  trade.  I  think  I'll  take  Mrs.  Haney 
over  to  see  the  pictures  myself." 

Humiston  brightened.  "Very  well;  but  you  must 
all  lunch  with  me.  You're  about  the  only  civilized 
people  I  know  in  this  crazy  town,  and  I  need  you." 

"No,"  said  Bertha.  "It's  our  treat.  You  all  come 
over  and  eat  with  us." 

Haney,  who  had  been  keeping  in  the  background, 
now  came  forward.  "I  second  that  motion,"  he  heartily 
said.  "We  don't  get  a  chance  every  day  to  feed  a 
bunch  of  artists." 

"You  can  have  that  pleasure  any  day  here,"  said 
Moss.  "Our  noses  are  always  over  the  bars,  waiting." 

When  she  emerged  from  the  gallery  an  hour  later 
Bertha  enjoyed  an  exalted  sense  of  having  been 
carried  through  some  upper,  serener  world,  where 
business,  politics,  and  fashion  had  little  place.  It  was 
"only  a  dip,"  as  Mrs.  Moss  said — just  to  show  the  way; 
but  it  set  the  girl's  brain  astir  with  half -formed,  dis 
connected  aspirations.  Only  as  she  re-entered  the 
hotel  (the  centre  of  obsequious  servants)  did  she  be 
come  again  the  wife  of  Marshall  Haney,  and  Mrs. 
Moss,  noting  the  eager  attention  of  the  waiters,  was 

206 


MONEY    MAGIC 

amazed  and  delighted  at  the  look  of  calm  command 
which  came  over  the  girl's  face. 

"Art  is  fine  and  sweet  as  a  side  issue,"  said  Julia  to 
her  husband,  as  they  were  going  in,  "but  money  makes 
the  porters  jump." 

Bertha,  composed  and  serious,  seated  her  guests  at  a 
table  which  had  been  reserved  for  her  near  a  window 
and  charmingly  decorated  with  flowers.  She  put  Moss 
at  her  left  hand  and  Humiston  at  her  right,  and  as  the 
Eastern  man  settled  into  place,  he  said:  "Really,  now, 
this  isn't  so  bad."  His  experienced  eye  had  noted  the 
swift  flocking  of  the  waiters,  and  with  cynical  amuse 
ment  he  commented  upon  it.  "These  people  must 
smell  of  money!"  and  in  his  heart  acknowledged  that  he 
and  Moss  were  not  so  very  different  from  the  servitors, 
after  all.  " They're  out  for  tens,  we're  after  thousands ; 
that's  the  main  point  of  difference." 

Bertha,  once  the  cutlets  were  served,  was  able  to 
give  attention  to  the  talk — Humiston 's  talk  (he  was 
celebrated  as  a  monologist),  for  he  had  resumed  the 
discussion  into  which  he  and  Moss  had  fallen.  "I 
don't  believe  in  helping  people  to  study  art.  I  don't 
believe  in  charity.  This  interfering  with  the  laws  of 
the  universe  that  kill  off  the  crippled  and  the  weakly 
is  pure  sentimentalism  that  will  fill  the  world  with 
deformed,  diseased,  and  incapable  persons." 

"You're  a  vile  reactionary!"  cried  Moss. 

"I  am  not — I'm  for  the  future.  I  want  to  see  the 
world  full  of  beauty." 

"Physical  beauty?" 

"Yes,  physical  beauty.  I  want  to  see  vice  and  crime 
and  crooked  limbs  and  low  brows  die  out — not  per 
petuated.  I  believe  in  educating  the  people  to  the 
lovely  in  line  and  color." 

207 


MONEY    MAGIC 

As  he  pursued  this  line  of  inexorable  argument  Bertha 
looked  at  him  in  wonder.  Did  he  mean  what  he  said  ? 
His  burning  eyes  seemed  sincere — and  yet  he  did  not 
fail  to  accept  a  second  helping  of  the  mushrooms. 
There  was  power  in  the  man.  He  pushed  the  walls 
of  her  intellectual  world  very  wide  apart.  He  came 
from  a  strange,  chaotic  region — from  a  land  where  or 
dinary  modes  and  motives  seemed  lost  or  perverted. 
He  took  a  delight  in  shocking  them  all.  Morality  was 
a  convention — a  hypocritic  agreement  on  the  part  of 
the  few  to  reserve  freedom  to  themselves  at  the  ex 
pense  of  the  many.  "Art  is  impossible  to  little 
people,  to  those  who  starve  the  big  side  of  their  nat 
ure,  for  fear  of  Mrs.  Grundy.  Look  at  the  real  people 
—Rachel,  Wagner,  Turner,  Bernhardt,  and  a  thousand 
others.  Were  they  bound  by  the  marriage  laws  ?  What 
will  these  crowds  of  tiny  men  and  petty  women  do  who 
come  from  the  country  parlors  and  corn-shocks  of  the 
West?  They  will  puddle  around  a  little  while,  paint 
and  muddle  a  few  petty  things,  then  marry  and  go  back 
to  the  ironing-board  and  the  furrow  where  they  belong. 
What's  the  matter  with  American  art  ?  It's  too  cursed 
normal,  that's  what.  It's  too  neat  and  sweet  and  re 
strained — no  license,  no  "go"  to  it.  What's  the  mat 
ter  with  you,  to  be  personal  ?" 

"Too  well  balanced." 

"Precisely.  You  talk  like  a  man  of  power,  but 
model  like  a  cursed  niggling  prude.  You're  bitten  with 
the  new  madness.  You're  the  Bryan  of  art.  'The 
dear  people '  is  your  cry .  Damn  the  people !  They  don't 
know  a  good  thing  when  they  see  it.  Why  consider 
the  millions?  Consider  the  few,  those  who  have  the 
taste  and  the  dollars.  That's  the  way  all  the  big  men 
of  the  past  had  to  do.  Look  at  Rubens  and  Michael 

208 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Angelo  and  Titian — all  the  big  bunch;  they  were  all 
frank,  gross  feeders,  lovers  of  beauty,  defiant  of  con 
ventions." 

He  had  forgotten  where  he  sat,  but  he  was  not  neg 
lecting  his  hostess.  He  took  a  satanic  satisfaction  in 
seeing  her  lovely  eyes  widen  and  glow  as  he  went  on. 
Subtly  flattering  her  by  including  her  among  the  very 
few  who  could  understand  his  ideals,  he  seemed  to 
draw  her  apart  to  his  side — appealing  to  her  for  sup 
port  against  the  coarse  and  foolish  hosts  represented 
by  the  Mosses,  while  Marshall  Haney  sat  in  a  kind  of 
stupor,  his  eyes  alone  speaking,  as  if  to  ask:  "What 
the  divil  is  the  little  man  with  the  cough  so  hot  about  ?" 

Moss,  accustomed  to  Humiston's  savage  diatribes, 
roared  out  objections  or  laughed  him  to  scorn,  while 
Mrs.  Moss  tried  her  best  to  turn  the  mad  artist's  mind 
upon  more  suitable  subjects.  He  had  been  deeply  hurt 
and  financially  distressed  by  the  failure  of  his  exhibits 
in  Pittsburg  and  Chicago,  and  was  now  taking  it  out 
on  his  friends.  His  passion,  his  bitter,  vengeful  cry 
against  the  ignorant  masses  of  the  world  was  something 
Bertha  had  read  about,  but  never  felt;  but  she  quiv 
ered  now  with  the  half-disclosed  fury  of  the  disappoint 
ed  austere  soul. 

Could  it  be  possible  that  this  savage  man,  so  worn  and 
ill,  had  painted  those  dim,  vague  pictures  of  flower- 
like  girls  whose  limbs  were  involved  in  blossoming  vines  ? 

He  concluded  at  last:  "The  only  place  in  the  world 
to-day  for  an  artist  is  Paris.  In  no  other  city  can  he 
live  his  own  life  in  frank  fulness,  and  find  patrons  who 
see  the  subtlest  meaning  of  a  line." 

Bertha  was  tired  of  all  this — mentally  weary  and 
confused;  and  she  felt  very  grateful  to  Mrs.  Moss,  who 
came  to  the  rescue  the  moment  Humiston  paused. 

209 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"There,  Mrs.  Haney,  that  is  the  end  of  Professor 
Jerry  Spoopendyke's  lecture  on  the  undesirability  of 
America  as  a  place  of  residence — for  him.  Of  course, 
he  don't  mind  selling  his  pictures  just  to  enlighten  our 
night  of  ignorance,  but  as  for  going  to  Sunday-school 
or  keeping  the  decalogue,  that's  our  job." 

Humiston  had  the  grace  to  smile.  "I  beg  your 
pardon,  Mrs.  Haney,  I  have  been  a  fool.  But  that 
monkey  over  there — Joe  Moss — provoked  me  with 
his  accursed  heresies  about  the  democracy  of  art. 
Art  has  no  democracy,  and  democracy  will  never  have 
an  art—" 

"There,  there!"  warned  Moss,  "you  said  all  that 
before." 

The  painter  wrenched  himself  away  and  turned  to 
Bertha.  "You  are  coming  to  New  York,  Mrs.  Haney  ?" 

"I  don't  know,"  she  said.     "We  may." 

"If  you  do,  don't  fail  to  let  me  know.  I  would  like 
to  see  you." 

"All  right,"  said  Bertha,  "111  send  you  a  line." 
And  her  frank  smile  made  him  sorry  to  say  good-bye 
even  for  the  day. 

As  Mart  was  going  up  the  elevator  he  sighed  and 
said:  "It  takes  all  kinds  of  people  to  make  up  a  world 
— Mr.  Hummockstone  is  wan  of  the  t 'others.  He  has 
a  grouch  agin  the  universe.  Sure  but  he's  been  housin' 
a  gnawin'  serpent.  How  'twill  all  end  I  dunno." 

When  alone  in  her  room,  Bertha's  mind  again  re 
verted  to  Ben  Fordyce.  As  she  compared  him  with 
Humiston,  he  seemed  handsomer  and  more  boyishly 
frank  than  ever.  What  did  Joe  Moss  mean  by  calling 
Mr.  Humiston  "blase."  She  had  seen  that  word  in 
novels  and  it  always  meant  something  wicked.  How 
could  this  weary,  sick  man  be  wicked?  She  pitied 

210 


MONEY    MAGIC 

him  and  wished  to  help  him.  "Why  should  he  take 
so  much  interest  in  me  ?  He  don't  have  to.  Of  course 
the  Mosses  are  nice  to  me  on  Congdon's  account,  but 
why  does  this  great  artist  want  me  to  come  to  his  studio 
in  New  York  ?  He  talks  poor,  so  maybe  he  wants  me 
to  buy  some  of  his  pictures."  That  her  money  was  a 
lure  for  wasps  she  did  not  yet  realize.  That  the  waiters 
and  clerks  buzzed  round  her  because  she  was  rich,  she 
knew;  but  that  these  men,  who  talked  of  beauty  and  the 
higher  life,  could  flatter  her  with  attentions  with  a  base 
motive  was  incredible. 

She  was  shrewd  as  her  Yankee  forbears,  but  she  was 
also  an  idealist,  and  these  artist  folk  now  seemed  to 
her  the  highest  types  she  had  ever  known  or  was  likely 
to  know.  She  felt  the  mystery  and  the  power  in 
Humiston's  personality,  and  his  bitter  and  rebellious, 
almost  blasphemous,  words  were  counterpoised  by  his 
paintings,  which  she  acknowledged  to  be  beautiful — 
too  beautiful  for  her  to  comprehend.  He  looked  like 
a  man  of  sorrow  and  weary  of  battle,  and  she  longed 
to  know  more  about  him.  When  he  was  not  fierce  he 
was  melancholy;  evidently  his  life  had  been  a  failure. 
"Why  shouldn't  I  buy  some  of  his  pictures?"  she 
asked  herself. 

Hitherto  the  answer  to  any  such  question  had  been, 
"Can  we  afford  it  ?"  but  now  another  and  deeper  query 
came  in  answer,  like  an  echo:  "Is  it  right  to  spend 
Mart  Haney's  money?  I  am  only  his  trained  nurse, 
not  his  wife,"  and  she  now  knew  that  she  could  not 
be  his  wife.  She  shrank  from  the  weight  of  his  hand, 
and  each  day  made  clearer  the  wide  spaces  of  years,  of 
family,  of  ideals,  which  lay  between  them.  The  kiss 
Ben  Fordyce  had  pressed  upon  her  lips  had  brought 
this  revelation.  But  of  this  she  was  not  yet  aware; 

211 


MONEY    MAGIC 

she  was  only  conscious  of  a  growing  dread  of  the  fut 
ure.  Her  duties  as  his  nurse  were  lightening.  Lucius, 
indeed,  now  took  many  of  her  tasks  upon  himself,  and 
she  no  longer  helped  him  with  his  shoes  or  coat,  and, 
what  was  still  more  significant,  she  could  not  calmly 
think  of  going  back  to  these  wifely  services. 

She  dwelt  treacherously  on  Haney's  own  admission: 
that  she  had  been  in  a  sense  entrapped.  He  had 
believed  himself  a  dying  man  at  the  time,  and  she  had 
been  too  excited,  too  exalted  by  the  lurid  romance  of 
the  scene  to  be  clear  about  anything  save  the  wish  and 
the  will  to  save  him ;  and  now  she  knew  that  at  bottom 
of  all  her  willingness  to  serve  him  lay  the  consciousness 
that  he  was  on  his  death-bed.  Afterwards  he  had  been 
to  her  only  a  big-hearted,  generous  friend,  in  need  of 
love  and  companionship.  This  understanding  had 
made  it  easy  for  her  to  prepare  his  meals,  to  help  him, 
as  a  nurse  would  help  him,  to  dress  and  undress.  She 
had  lost  all  of  the  fear  and  much  of  the  admiration  in 
which  she  used  to  greet  him  as  he  swung  into  the  office 
of  her  little  hotel.  He  had  become  to  her  an  invalid, 
a  child  to  be  jollied  and  humored,  and  yet  respected; 
for  no  one  could  have  been  kinder  or  more  scrupulous 
ly  just  than  he.  And  it  was  the  recollection  of  all  his 
acts  of  self-sacrifice  and  loving  patience  which  gave 
her  assurance  that  he  would  never  require  obedience, 
though  he  might  sue  for  it. 

Her  danger  lay  in  herself.  "If  he  does  ask  me  to  be 
his  real  wife — then  I  must  either  agree  or  leave.  It 
won't  be  right  for  me  to  take  all  these  benefits  un 
less—" 

And  with  this  thought,  the  big  house  in  the  Springs, 
the  sleek  horses,  their  shining  carriages,  the  auto-car, 
her  dresses,  the  service  of  the  big  hotel,  and  the  con- 

212 


MONEY    MAGIC 

sideration  her  husband's  money  gave  to  her,  all  as 
sumed  a  new  and  corrupting  lustre.  She  was  growing 
accustomed  to  luxury  and  the  thought  of  giving  it  up 
made  her  shiver  like  one  who  faces  a  plunge  into  a  dark 
night  and  an  icy  river.  Besides,  her  sacrifice  would 
involve  others.  Her  mother,  her  brother,  were  already 
roundly  ensnared  in  Mart's  bounty. 

Her  head  was  aching  with  it  all,  when  a  comforting 
thought  came  to  her.  It  was  not  necessary  to  decide 
it  at  that  moment,  and  with  a  sigh  of  relief  she  threw 
it  aside  and  sat  down  to  write  a  letter  to  her  mother. 

"I  ought  to  have  written  before,  but  I've  been 
jumped  right  into  the  middle  of  things  here.  The 
letters  Frank  Congdon  gave  me  took  me  into  an 
artistic  bunch  about  as  gay  and  queer  as  Frank  is,  but 
they've  been  mighty  nice  to  me.  I've  been  setting 
for  my  bust  to  Mr.  Moss,  who  is  a  sculptor.  He  has  a 
big  studio  clear  on  the  top  of  one  of  the  tallest  blocks 
here  and  has  some  dandy  lamps  and  things.  I've 
bought  some  to  bring  back.  I  met  a  Mr.  Humiston 
there  from  New  York,  and  he  made  a  sketch  of  me — 
wants  me  to  see  his  studio  in  New  York.  I  don't 
know  whether  I'll  go  on  or  let  Mart  go  with  Lucius. 
Lucius  is  all  right — I  don't  see  how  I  got  on  without  him. 
He  knows  everything.  I  wish  I  had  half  the  education 
he's  got.  He's  up  on  all  the  society  ways  and  puts 
me  on.  For  instance,  he  told  me  the  nice  thing  would 
be  to  give  a  dinner  to  this  artist  push  and  to  the  people 
that  Dorothy  give  me  a  letter  to,  and  I'm  going  to  do  it. 
Lucius  will  look  out  for  the  whole  thing.  You  should 
see  the  way  the  waiters  tend.  I  reckon  Lucius  has 
told  'em  we're  made  of  money.  I'm  afraid  we're 
getting  spoilt,  Muzz.  It  would  be  pretty  tough  to  go 
back  to  the  hotel  now,  wouldn't  it  ? 

213 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"We  went  to  see  Mart's  sister,  Fanny.  Her  house 
was  a  sight.  It  was  clean  enough,  but  littered — well, 
litter  is  no  name  for  it — but  she's  a  good  old  thing  and 
so  is  McArdle.  He  sat  and  looked  at  us  the  whole 
time  like  a  turkey  blind  in  one  eye — never  said  a  word 
the  whole  time  but  'pass  the  p-taties.'  I  liked  him 
though.  He's  a  kind  of  sculptor,  too — makes  patterns 
for  all  these  little  acorns  and  leaves  and  do-funnies 
on  stoves.  They've  got  forty-'leven  children  and  need 
help  and  I'm  perfectly  willing  Mart  should  help  'em. 
We're  looking  up  houses  now.  He's  going  to  buy  a 
place  for  'em  on  the  west  side.  Wednesday  night  I 
went  to  see  the  Doctor  Brents,  Dorothy's  friends.  They 
had  a  dinner — very  nice,  but  they  all  kind  o'  sat  'round 
and  waited  for  us  to  perform.  I  guess  they  thought 
we  were  mountain  lions.  But  they  didn't  make  much 
out  o'  me.  They  was  one  chap  there  with  goggles  who 
looked  at  Mart  like  an  undertaker.  He's  a  scientific 
doctor — one  of  these  fellers  that  invent  new  ways  of 
doing  things.  His  name  is  Halliday.  I  liked  Dr.  Brent 
pretty  well — but  Mrs.  Brent  only  so-so.  The  doctor 
wants  to  'dagnose'  Mart's  case — says  it  won't  cost  a 
cent.  We  all  went  to  a  show  at  night  and  the  Captain 
was  just  about  petered  to  a  point.  He's  better  though. 
The  lower  altitude  helps  his  circulation.  I  guess  his 
heart  is  affected.  He's  afraid  now  he  won't  ever  be 
able  to  go  back  to  the  mines.  He  wants  to  slide  on  to 
New  York  and  see  his  father  and  wants  me  to  go — but 
I'd  rather  come  home — I'm  homesick  for  the  hills. 
They're  nice  to  me  here — but  I  want  to  see  the  old 
Peak  once  more.  Tell"  (here  she  wrote  "Ben"  and 
blotted  it)  "tell  Mr.  Fordyce  that  we're  all  right  and  to 
keep  us  posted  every  day.  We  see  by  the  papers  that 
the  mine -owners  are  going  to  throw  the  unions  out  of 

214 


MONEY    MAGIC 

business.  If  they  try  that  they'll  be  war  again.  We'll 
be  home  soon — or  at  least  I  will.  I'm  getting  home- 
sicker  every  minute  as  I  write." 

She  added  a  postscript.     ''Don't  show  my  letters  to 
any  one.     I  wish  I'd  'a'  had  a  little  more  schooling." 

15 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE      FARTHER      EAST 

HANEY  visibly  brightened  as  the  days  went  by, 
and  took  long  rides  in  his  auto,  sometimes  with 
Bertha,  sometimes  alone  with  Lucius,  and  now  and 
then  with  some  old  acquaintance,  who,  having  seen  his 
name  in  the  paper,  ventured  to  call.  They  were  not 
very  savory  characters,  to  tell  the  truth,  and  he  did  not 
always  introduce  them  to  Bertha,  but  as  his  health 
improved  he  called  upon  a  few  of  the  more  reputable 
of  them,  billiard-table  agents,  and  the  like  of  that,  and 
to  these  proudly  exhibited  his  wife. 

Bertha  had  hitherto  accepted  this  with  boyish  tol 
erance,  but  now  it  irritated  her.  Some  of  these  visit 
ors  presumed  on  her  husband's  past  and  treated  her 
with  a  certain  freedom  of  tone  and  looseness  of  tongue 
which  made  plain  even  to  her  unsuspecting  nature 
that  they  put  no  high  value  on  her  virtue — in  fact,  one 
fellow  went  so  far  as  to  facetiously  ask,  "Where  did 
Mart  find  you?  Are  there  any  more  out  there?" 
And  she  felt  the  insult,  though  she  did  not  know  how 
to  resent  it. 

Haney,  so  astute  in  many  things,  saw  nothing  out  of 
the  way  in  this  off-hand  treatment  of  his  wife.  He 
would  have  killed  the  man  who  dared  to  touch  her, 
and  yet  he  stood  smilingly  by  while  some  chance  ac 
quaintance  treated  her  as  if  she  had  been  picked  out 

216 


MONEY    MAGIC 

of  a  Denver  gutter.  This  threw  Bertha  upon  her  own 
defence,  and  at  last  she  made  even  impudence  humble 
itself.  She  carried  herself  like  a  young  warrior,  sure  of 
her  power  and  quick  of  defence. 

She  refused  to  invite  her  husband's  friends  to  lunch, 
and  the  first  real  argument  she  had  thus  far  held  with 
him  came  about  in  this  way.  She  said,  "Yes,  you  can 
ask  Mr.  Black  or  Mr.  Brown  to  dinner,  but  I  won't  set 
at  the  same  table  with  them." 

"Why  not?"  he  asked. 

"Because  they're  not  the  kind  of  men  I  want  to  eat 
with,"  she  bluntly  replied.  "They're  just  a  little  too 
coarse  for  me." 

"They're  good  business  men  and  have  fine  homes — " 

"Do  they  invite  you  to  their  homes?" 

"They  do  not,"  he  admitted,  "but  they  may — after 
our  dinner." 

"Lucius  says  it's  their  business  to  lead  out — and  he 
knows.  I  don't  mind  your  lunching  these  dubs  every 
day  if  you  want  to,  but  I  keep  clear  of  'em.  I  tell  you 
those ! ' ' 

And  so  it  fell  out  that  while  she  was  going  about 
with  the  Mosses  and  their  kind,  Mart  was  explaining 
to  Black  and  Brown  that  his  wife  "was  a  little  shy." 
"You  see  she  grew  up  in  the  hills  like  a  doe  antelope, 
and  it's  hard  for  her  to  get  wonted  to  the  noise  of  a 
great  city,"  he  laboriously  set  forth,  but  at  heart  he 
did  not  blame  her.  He  was  coming  to  find  them  a 
little  "coarse"  himself. 

Humiston  was  deeply  enthralled  by  Bertha's  odd 
speech,  her  beauty,  her  calm  use  of  money,  and  lin 
gered  on  day  by  day,  spending  nearly  all  his  time 
at  Moss's  studio  or  at  the  hotel,  seeking  Mrs.  Haney's 
company.  He  had  never  met  her  like,  and  confessed 

217 


MONEY    MAGIC 

as  much  to  Moss,  who  jocularly  retorted:  "That's  say 
ing  a  good  deal — for  you've  seen  quite  a  few." 

Humiston  ignored  this  thrust.  "She  has  beauty,  im 
agination,  and  immense  possibilities.  She  don't  know 
herself.  When  she  wakes  up  to  her  power,  then  look 
out!  She  can't  go  on  long  with  this  old,  worn-out 
gambler." 

"  Oh,  Haney  isn't  such  a  beast  as  you  make  him  out. 
Bertha  told  me  he  had  never  crossed  her  will.  He's 
really  very  kind  and  generous." 

"That  may  be  true,  and  yet  he's  a  mill-stone  about 
her  neck.  It's  a  shame — a  waste  of  beauty — for  the 
girl  is  a  beauty." 

It  was  with  a  sense  of  relief  that  Moss  heard  Bertha 
say  to  his  wife:  "I  guess  I've  had  enough  of  this.  It's 
me  to  the  high  ground  to-morrow." 

"Aren't  you  going  on  to  the  metropolis?" 

"I  don't  think  it.  I'm  hungry  for  the  peaks — and, 
besides,  our  horses  need  exercise.  I  think  I'll  pull  out 
for  the  West  to-morrow  and  leave  the  Captain  and 
Lucius  to  go  East  together.  I  don't  believe  I  need 
New  York." 

To  this  arrangement  Haney  reluctantly  consented. 
"You're  missin'  a  whole  lot,  Bertie.  I  don't  feel  right 
in  goin'  on  to  Babylon  without  ye.  I  reckon  you'd 
better  reconsider  the  motion.  However,  I'll  not  be 
gone  long,  and  if  I  find  the  old  Dad  hearty  I  may  bring 
him  home  with  me.  He's  liable  to  be  livin'  with 
John  Donahue.  Charles  said  he  was  a  shiftless  whelp, 
and  there's  no  telling  how  he's  treating  the  old  man. 
Annyhow,  I'll  let  you  know." 

She  relented  a  little.  "Ma'be  I  ought  to  go.  I  hate 
to  see  you  starting  off  alone." 

"Sure  now!  don't  ye  worry,  darling.  Lucius  is 
218 


MONEY    MAGIC 

handy  as  a  bootjack,  and  we'll  get  along  fine.  Besides, 
I  may  come  back  immegitly,  for  them  mine -owners 
are  cooking  a  hell-broth  for  us  all.  Havin'  a  governor 
on  their  side  now,  they  must  set  out  to  show  their 
power." 

Ben  kept  them  supplied  with  home  papers,  and  as 
Bertha  took  up  one  of  these  journals  she  found  herself 
played  upon  by  familiar  forms  and  faces.  The  very 
names  of  the  streets  were  an  appeal.  She  saw  herself 
sporting  with  her  hounds,  riding  with  Fordyce  over 
the  flowery  Mesa,  or  facing  him  in  his  sun-bright  office 
discussing  the  world's  events  and  deciding  upon  their 
own  policies  and  expenditures.  She  grew  very  home 
sick  as  these  pleasant,  familiar  pictures  freshened  in 
her  vision,  and  her  faith  in  Ben's  honesty  and  essential 
goodness  came  back  to  her.  Moreover  her  mind  was 
not  at  rest  regarding  Haney ;  much  as  she  longed  to  go 
home,  she  felt  it  her  duty  to  remain  with  him,  and  as  she 
lay  in  her  bed  she  thought  of  him  with  much  the  same 
pity  a  daughter  feels  for  a  disabled  father.  ''He's 
given  me  a  whole  lot — I  ought  to  stay  by  him." 

She  admitted  also  a  flutter  of  fear  at  thought  of  meet 
ing  Ben  Fordyce  alone,  and  this  unformulated  distrust 
of  herself  decided  her  at  last  to  go  on  with  Mart  and  to 
have  him  for  shield  and  armor  when  she  returned  to 
the  Springs. 

There  are  certain  ways  in  which  books  instruct 
women — and  men,  too,  for  that  matter — but  there  are 
other  and  more  vital  processes  in  which  only  experience 
(individual  or  inherited)  teaches.  In  her  desultory 
reading,  little  Mrs.  Haney,  like  every  other  citizen,  had 
taken  imaginative  part  in  many  murders,  seductions, 
and  marital  infidelities;  and  yet  the  motives  for  such 
deeds  had  never  before  seemed  human.  Now  the  dark 

219 


MONEY    MAGIC 

places  in  the  divorce  trials,  the  obscure  charges  in  the 
testimony  of  deserted  wives,  were  suddenly  illumined. 
She  realized  how  easy  it  would  be  to  make  trouble  be 
tween  Mart  and  herself.  She  understood  the  stain 
those  strangers  in  the  car  could  put  upon  her,  and  she 
trembled  at  the  mere  thought  of  Mart's  inquiring  eyes 
when  he  should  know  of  it.  Why  should  he  know  of  it  ? 
It  was  all  over  and  done  with.  There  was  only  one 
thing  to  do— forget  it. 

Surely  life  was  growing  complex.  With  bewildering 
swiftness  the  experiences  of  a  woman  of  the  world  were 
advancing  upon  her,  and  she,  with  no  brother  or  father 
to  be  her  guard,  or  friend  to  give  her  character,  with  a 
husband  whose  very  name  and  face  were  injuries,  was 
rinding  men  in  the  centres  of  culture  quite  as  predatory 
as  among  the  hills,  where  Mart  Haney's  fame  still  made 
his  glance  a  warning.  These  few  weeks  in  Chicago  had 
added  a  year  to  her  development,  but  she  dared  not  face 
Ben  Fordyce  alone — not  just  yet — not  till  her  mind  had 
cleared. 

In  the  midst  of  her  doubt  of  herself  and  of  him  a 
message  came  which  made  all  other  news  of  no  account. 
He  was  on  his  way  to  Chicago  to  consult  Mart  (so  the 
words  ran) ,  but  in  her  soul  she  knew  he  was  coming  to 
see  her.  Was  it  to  test  her  ?  Had  he  taken  silence  for 
consent  ?  Was  he  about  to  try  her  faith  in  him  and  her 
loyalty  to  her  husband  ? 

His  telegram  read:  "Coming  on  important  business." 
That  might  mean  concerning  the  mine — on  the  surface ; 
but  beneath  ran  something  more  vital  to  them  both 
than  any  mine  or  labor  war,  something  which  devel 
oped  in  the  girl  both  fear  and  wonder — fear  of  the  power 
that  came  from  his  eyes,  wonder  of  the  world  his  love 
had  already  opened  to  her.  What  was  the  meaning  of 

220 


MONEY    MAGIC 

this  mad,  sweet  riot  of  the  blood— this  forgetfulness  of 
all  the  rest  of  the  world — -this  longing  which  was  both 
pleasure  and  pain,  doubt  and  delight,  which  turned 
her  face  to  the  West  as  though  through  a  long,  shin 
ing  vista  she  saw  love's  messenger  speeding  towards 
her? 

Sleep  kept  afar,  and  she  lay  restlessly  turning  till  long 
after  midnight,  and  when  she  slept  she  dreamed,  not 
of  him,  but  of  Sibley  and  her  mother  and  the  toil-filled, 
untroubled  days  of  her  girlhood.  She  rose  early  next 
morning  and  awaited  his  coming  with  more  of  physical 
weakness  as  well  as  of  uncertainty  of  mind  than  she  had 
ever  known  before. 

Haney  was  also  up  and  about,  an  hour  ahead  of  his 
schedule,  sure  that  Ben's  business  concerned  the  mine. 
"  It's  the  labor  war  breaking  out  again,"  he  repeated. 
"I  feel  it  in  my  bones.  If  it  is, back  I  go, for  the  boys 
will  be  nading  me." 

They  went  to  the  station  in  their  auto-car,  but,  at 
Bertha's  suggestion,  Mart  sent  Lucius  in  to  meet  their 
attorney  and  to  direct  him  where  to  find  them.  The 
young  wife  had  a  feeling  that  to  await  him  at  the  gate 
might  give  him  a  false  notion  of  her  purpose.  She 
grew  faint  and  her  throat  contracted  as  if  a  strong 
hand  clutched  it  as  she  saw  his  tall  form  advancing, 
but  almost  instantly  his  frank  and  eager  face,  his  clear 
glance,  his  simple  and  cordial  greeting  disarmed  her, 
transmuted  her  half-shaped  doubts  into  golden  faith. 
He  was  true  and  good — of  that  she  was  completely  re 
assured.  Her  spirits  soared,  and  the  glow  came  back 
to  her  cheek. 

Fordyce,  looking  up  at  her,  was  filled  with  astonish 
ment  at  the  picture  of  grace  and  ease  which  she  pre 
sented,  as  she  leaned  to  take  his  hand.  She  shone,  un- 

221 


MONEY    MAGIC 

mistakable  mistress  of  the  car,  while  Haney  filled  the 
role  of  trusted  Irish  coachman. 

As  he  climbed  in,  the  young  lawyer  remarked  merrily, 
*'I  don't  know  whether  I  approve  of  this  extravagance 
or  not."  He  tapped  the  car  door. 

"It's  mighty  handy  for  the  Captain,"  she  replied. 
"You  see  he  can't  get  round  in  the  street-cars  very  well, 
and  he  says  this  is  cheaper  than  cabs  in  the  long  run." 

' '  It  has  never  proved  economical  to  me ;  but  it  is 
handy,"  he  answered,  with  admiration  of  her  growing 
mastery  of  wealth. 

And  so  with  something  fiercely  beating  in  their  hearts 
these  youthful  warriors  struggled  to  be  true  to  others — 
fighting  against  themselves  as  against  domestic  trai 
tors,  while  they  talked  of  the  mine,  the  state  judiciary, 
the  operators,  and  the  unions.  Their  words  were  im 
personal,  prosaic  of  association,  but  their  eyes  spoke  of 
love  as  the  diamond  speaks  of  light.  Ben's  voice,  care 
fully  controlled,  was  vibrant  with  the  poetry  that  comes 
but  once  in  the  life  of  a  man,  and  she  listened  in  that 
perfect  content  which  makes  gold  and  glory  but  the 
decorations  of  the  palace  where  adoration  dwells. 

The  great,  smoky,  thunderous  city  somehow  added 
to  the  sweetness  of  the  meeting — made  it  the  more 
precious,  like  a  song  in  a  tempest.  It  seemed  to  Ben 
Fordyce  as  if  he  had  never  really  lived  before.  The 
very  need  of  concealment  gave  his  unspoken  passion 
a  singular  quality — a  tang  of  the  wilding,  the  danger- 
some,  which  his  intimacy  with  Alice  had  never  pos 
sessed. 

The  Haneys'  suite  of  rooms  at  the  hotel  called  for 
comment.  "Surely  Haney  is  feeling  the  power  of  mon 
ey — but  why  not;  who  has  a  better  right  to  lovely 
things  than  Bertha?"  Then  aloud  he  repeated:  "How 

222 


THE    YOUNG    WIFE    WAITED    IN    BREATHLESS     SILENCE    FOR    HIM 
TO    SPEAK 


MONEY    MAGIC 

well  you're  looking — both  of  you !  City  life  agrees  with 
you.  I  never  saw  you  look  so  well." 

This  remark,  innocent  on  its  surface,  brought  self- 
consciousness  to  Bertha,  for  the  light  of  his  glance  ex 
pressed  more  than  admiration ;  and  even  as  they  stood 
facing  each  other,  alive  to  the  same  disturbing  flush, 
Lucius  called  Haney  from  the  room,  leaving  them  alone 
together.  The  moment  of  Ben's  trial  had  come. 

For  a  few  seconds  the  young  wife  waited  in  breath 
less  silence  for  him  to  speak,  a  sense  of  her  own  word 
lessness  lying  like  a  weight  upon  her.  Into  the  cloud 
of  her  confusion  his  voice  came  bringing  confidence  and 
calm.  "I  feel  that  you  have  forgiven  me — your  eyes 
seem  to  say  so.  I  couldn't  blame  you  if  you  despised 
me.  I  won't  say  my  feeling  has  changed,  for  it  hasn't. 
It  may  be  wrong  to  say  so — it  is  wrong,  but  I  can't  help 
it.  Please  tell  me  that  you  forgive  me.  I  will  be  hap 
pier  if  you  do,  and  I  will  never  offend  again."  His 
accent  was  at  once  softly  pleading  and  manly,  and,  as 
she  raised  her  eyes  to  his  in  restored  self-confidence, 
she  murmured  a  quaint,  short,  reassuring  phrase:  "Oh, 
that's  all  right!"  Her  glance,  so  shy,  so  appealing, 
united  to  the  half -humorous  words  of  her  reply,  were 
so  surely  of  the  Mountain- West  that  Ben  was  quite 
swept  from  the  high  ground  of  his  resolution,  and  his 
hands  leaped  towards  her  with  an  almost  irresistible 
embracing  impulse.  "You  sweet  girl!"  he  exclaimed. 

"Don't!"  she  said,  starting  back  in  alarm — "don't!" 

His  face  changed  instantly,  the  clear  candor  of  his 
voice  reassured  her.  "Don't  be  afraid.  I  mean  what 
I  said.  You  need  have  no  fear  that  I — that  my  offence 
will  be  repeated;"  then,  with  intent  to  demonstrate  his 
self-command,  he  abruptly  changed  the  subject.  "The 
Congdons  sent  their  love  to  you,  and  Miss  Franklin  com- 

223 


MONEY    MAGIC 

missioned  me  to  tell  you  that  she  will  give  you  all  her 
time  next  summer — if  you  wish  her  to  do  so." 

She  was  glad  of  this  message  and  added:  "I  need 
her,  sure  thing.  Every  day  I  spend  here  makes  me 
seem  like  Mary  Ann — I  don't  see  how  people  can  talk 
as  smooth  as  they  do.  I'm  crazy  to  get  to  school  again 
and  make  up  for  lost  time.  Joe  Moss  makes  me  feel 
like  a  lead  quarter.  Being  here  with  all  these  nice 
people  and  not  able  to  talk  with  them  is  no  fun. 
Couldn't  I  whirl  in  and  go  to  school  somewhere  back 
here?" 

"Oh  no,  that  isn't  necessary.  You  are  getting  your 
education  by  association — you  are  improving  very 
fast." 

Her  face  lighted  up.     "Am  I  ?     Do  you  mean  it  ?" 

"I  do  mean  it.  No  one  would  know — to  see  you 
here — that  you  had  not  enjoyed  all  the  advantages." 

"Oh  yes,  but  I'm  such  a  bluff.  When  I  open  my 
mouth  they  all  begin  to  grin.  They're  onto  my  game 
all  right." 

He  smiled.  "That's  because  of  your  picturesque 
phrases — they  like  to  hear  you  speak.  I  assure  you  no 
one  would  think  of  calling  you  awkward  or — or  lacking 
in — in  charm." 

Haney's  return  cut  short  this  defensive  dialogue,  and 
with  a  sense  of  relief  Bertha  retreated — almost  fled  to 
her  room — leaving  the  two  men  to  discuss  their  busi 
ness. 

At  the  moment  she  had  no  wish  to  participate  in  a 
labor  controversy.  She  was  entirely  the  woman  at  last, 
roused  to  the  overpowering  value  of  her  own  inheri 
tance.  Her  desire  to  manage,  to  calculate,  to  plan  her 
husband's  affairs  was  gone,  and  in  its  place  was  a 
willingness  to  submit,  a  wish  for  protection  which  she 

224 


MONEY    MAGIC 

had  not  hitherto  acknowledged.  She  brooded  for  a 
time  on  Ben's  words,  then  hurriedly  began  to  dress — 
with  illogical  desire  to  make  herself  beautiful  in  his 
eyes.  As  she  re-entered  the  room  she  caught  Haney's 
repeated  declaration — "I  will  be  loyal  to  the  men" — 
and  Ben's  reply. 

"Very  well,  I'll  go  back  and  do  the  best  I  can  to 
keep  them  in  line,  but  Williams  says  the  governor  is 
entirely  on  the  side  of  the  mine-operators." 

"Does  he?"  retorted  Haney.  "Well,  you  say  to  the 
governor  that  Mart  Haney  was  a  gambler  and  saloon 
keeper  during  the  other  'war/  and  now  that  he's  a 
mine-owner,  with  money  to  hire  a  regiment  of  deppy- 
ties,  his  heart  is  with  the  red-neckers — -just  where  it  was. 
Owning  a  paying  mine  has  not  changed  me  heart  to  a 
stone." 

Ben,  as  well  as  Bertha,  understood  the  pride  he  took 
in  not  whiffling  with  the  shift  of  wind,  but  at  the  same 
time  he  considered  it  a  foolish  kind  of  loyalty.  "Very 
well,  I'll  take  the  six-o'clock  train  to-night  in  order  to 
be  on  hand." 

"What's  the  rush?"  said  Haney;  "stay  on  a  day  or 
two  and  see  the  town  with  us — 'tis  a  great  show." 

Bertha,  re-entering  at  this  moment  in  her  shining 
gown,  put  the  young  attorney's  Spartan  resolution  to 
rout.  He  stammered:  "I  ought  to  be  on  the  ground 
before  the  mine-owners  begin  to  open  fire,  and,  besides — 
Alice  is  not  very  well." 

At  the  mention  of  Alice's  name  Bertha's  glance  wa 
vered  and  her  eyelids  fell.  She  did  not  urge  him  to 
stay,  and  Haney  spoke  up,  heartily:  "I'm  sorry  to  hear 
she's  not  well.  She  was  pretty  as  a  rose  the  night  of 
the  dinner." 

"She  lives  on  her  nerves,"  Ben  replied,  falling  into 
225 


MONEY    MAGIC 

sadness.  "One  day  she's  up  in  the  clouds  and  dancing, 
the  next  she's  flat  in  her  bed  in  a  darkened  room  un 
willing  to  see  anybody." 

"  Tis  the  way  of  the  White  Death,"  thought  Haney, 
but  he  spoke  hopefully:  "Well,  spring  is  here  and  a 
long  summer  before  her — she'll  be  herself  against  Oc 
tober." 

"I  trust  so,"  said  Ben,  but  Bertha  could  see  that  he 
was  losing  hope  and  that  his  life  was  being  darkened 
by  the  presence  of  the  death  angel. 

Haney  changed  the  current  of  all  their  thinking  by 
saying  to  Bertha:  "If  you  are  minded  to  go  home, 
now  is  your  chance,  acushla.  You  can  return  with 
Mr.  Fordyce,  while  Lucius  and  I  go  on  to  New  York  the 
morning." 

"No,  no!"  she  cried  out  in  a  panic.  "No,  I  am  going 
with  you — I  want  to  see  New  York  myself,"  she  added, 
in  justification.  The  thought  of  the  long  journey  with 
Ben  Fordyce  filled  her  with  a  kind  of  terror,  a  feeling 
she  had  never  known  before.  She  needed  protection 
against  herself. 

"Very  well,"  said  Haney,  "that's  settled.  Now  let's 
show  Mr.  Fordyce  the  town." 

Ben  put  aside  his  doubt  and  went  forth  with  them, 
resolute  to  make  a  merry  day  of  it.  He  seemed  to 
regain  all  his  care -free  temper,  but  Bertha  remained 
uneasy  and  at  times  abnormally  distraught.  She 
spoke  with  effort  and  listened  badly,  so  busily  was  she 
wrought  upon  by  unbidden  thoughts.  The  question 
of  her  lover's  disloyalty  to  Alice  Heath,  strange  to  say, 
had  not  hitherto  troubled  her — so  selfishly,  so  childishly 
had  her  own  relationship  to  him  filled  her  mind.  She 
now  saw  that  Alice  Heath  was  as  deeply  concerned  in 
Ben's  relationship  to  her  as  Haney,  and  the  picture  of 

226 


MONEY    MAGIC 

the  poor,  pale,  despairing  lady,  worn  with  weeping, 
persistently  came  between  her  and  the  scenes  Mart 
pointed  out  on  their  trips  about  the  city.  Did  Alice 
know — did  she  suspect  ?  Was  that  why  she  was  sink 
ing  lower  and  lower  into  the  shadow  ? 

With  these  questions  to  be  answered,  as  well  as  those 
she  had  already  put  to  herself  concerning  Mart,  she 
could  not  enjoy  the  day's  outing.  She  rode  through 
the  parks  with  cold  hands  and  white  lips,  and  sat  amid 
the  color  and  bustle  and  light  of  the  dining-room  with 
only  spasmodic  return  of  her  humorous,  girlish  self. 
The  love  which  shone  from  Ben's  admiring  eyes  only 
added  to  her  uneasiness. 

She  was  very  lovely  in  a  new  gown  that  disclosed  her 
firm,  rounded  young  bosom,  like  a  rosebud  within  its 
calyx — the  distraction  upon  her  brow  somehow  adding 
to  the  charm  of  her  face — and  Ben  thought  her  the 
most  wonderful  girl  he  had  ever  known,  so  outwardly  at 
ease  and  in  command  was  she.  "Could  any  one," 
he  thought,  "be  more  swiftly  adaptable?" 

They  went  to  the  theatre,  and  her  beauty  and  her 
curiously  unsmiling  face  aroused  the  admiration  and 
curiosity  of  many  others  of  those  who  saw  her.  At 
last,  under  the  influence  of  the  music,  her  eyes  lost  their 
shadow  and  grew  tender  and  wistful.  She  ceased  to 
question  herself  and  gave  herself  up  to  the  joy  of  the 
moment.  The  play  and  the  melody  —  hackneyed  to 
many  of  those  present — appealed  to  her  imagination, 
liberating  her  from  the  earth  and  all  its  concerns.  She 
turned  to  Ben  with  eyes  of  rapture,  saying,  "Isn't  it 
lovely!" 

And  he,  to  whom  the  music  was  outworn  and  a 
little  shoddy,  instantly  agreed.  "Yes,  it  is  very 
beautiful,"  and  he  meant  it,  for  her  pleasure  in  it 

227 


MONEY    MAGIC 

brought  back  a  knowledge  of  the  charm  it  had  once 
possessed. 

They  dined  together  at  the  hotel,  but  the  thought  of 
Ben's  departure  brought  a  pang  into  Bertha's  heart, 
and  she  fell  back  into  her  uneasy,  distracted  musing. 
She  was  being  tempted,  through  her  husband,  who  re 
peated  with  the  half-forgetfulness  of  age  and  weakness, 
"You'd  better  go  back  with  Mr.  Fordyce,  Bertie,"  but 
there  was  something  stronger  than  her  individual  will 
in  her  reply — some  racial  resolution  which  came  down 
the  line  of  her  good  ancestry,  and  with  almost  angry 
outcry  she  answered: 

"There's  no  use  talking  that!  I'm  going  with  you," 
and  with  this  she  ended  the  outward  siege,  but  the  in 
ward  battle  was  not  closed  till  she  had  taken  and 
dropped  the  hand  her  lover  held  out  in  parting  next 
morning,  and  even  then  she  turned  away,  with  his  eyes 
and  the  tender  cadences  of  his  voice  imprinted  so  viv 
idly  on  her  memory  that  she  could  not  banish  them, 
and  she  set  face  towards  the  farther  East  with  the  con 
test  of  duty  and  desire  still  going  forward  in  her  blood. 


CHAPTER  XX 

BERTHA  MEETS  MANHATTAN 

IT  was  a  green  land  in  which  she  woke.  The  leaves 
were  just  putting  forth  their  feathery  fronds  of 
foliage,  and  the  shorn  lawns,  the  waving  floods  of 
growing  wheat,  and  the  smooth  slopes  of  pastures  pre 
sented  pleasant  pictures  to  the  mountain-born  girl. 
These  thickly  peopled  farm  -  lands,  the  almost  con 
tiguous  villages,  the  constant  passing  of  trains  roused 
in  her  a  surprise  and  wonder  which  left  her  silent. 
Such  weight  of  human  life,  such  swarming  populations, 
appalled  her.  How  did  they  all  live? 

At  breakfast  Haney  was  in  unusual  flow  of  spirits. 
"  'Twas  here  I  rode  the  trucks  of  a  freight-car,"  he  said 
once  and  again.  "In  this  town  I  slept  all  night  on  a 
bench  in  the  depot.  ...  I  know  every  tie  from  here  to 
Syracuse.  I  wonder  is  the  station  agent  living  yet. 
'Twould  warm  me  heart  to  toss  him  out  ten  dollars  for 
that  night's  lodging.  Them  was  the  great  days!  In 
Syracuse  I  worked  for  a  livery-stableman  as  hostler, 
and  I  would  have  gone  hungry  but  for  the  scullion 
Maggie.  Cross-eyed  was  Maggie,  but  her  heart  beat 
warm  for  the  lad  in  the  loft,  and  manny's  the  plates  of 
beef  and  bowls  of  hot  soup  she  handed  to  me — poor 
girl!  I'd  like  to  know  where  she  is;  had  I  the  power 
of  locomotion  I'd  look  her  up,  too." 

Again  Bertha  was  brought  face  to  face  with  the  great 
229 


MONEY    MAGIC 

sacrifice  she  was  obscurely  contemplating.  The  magic 
potency  of  money  was  brought  before  her  eyes  as  she 
contrasted  the  ragged,  homeless  boy  with  the  man  who 
sat  beside  her.  The  fact  that  he  had  not  earned  the 
money  only  made  its  magic  the  more  clearly  inherent  in 
the  gold  itself.  It  panoplied  the  thief's  carriage.  It 
made  dwarfs  admirable,  and  gave  dignity  and  honor 
to  the  lowly.  It  made  it  possible  for  Marshall  Haney 
to  retrace  in  royal  splendor  the  perilous  and  painful 
journey  he  had  made  into  the  West  some  thirty  years 
ago — rewarding  with  regal  generosity  those  who  threw 
him  a  broken  steak  or  a  half -eaten  roll — and  she  could 
imaginatively  enter  into  the  exquisite  pleasure  this  lar 
gess  gave  the  man. 

"And  there  was  Father  McBreen,"  he  resumed,  with 
a  chuckle — -'"sure  the  mark  of  Satan  is  on  the  b'y,'  he 
used  to  say  every  time  my  mother  told  him  of  one  of 
my  divilments.  And  he  was  right.  All  the  same,  I'd 
like  to  drop  in  on  him  and  surprise  him  with  a  check" 
— at  the  moment  he  forgot  that  he  was  old  and  a  crip 
ple — "just  to  let  him  know  the  divil  hadn't  claimed  me 
yet.  I'd  like  to  show  him  me  wife."  He  put  his  hand 
on  her  arm  and  smiled.  "Sure  the  old  man  would 
revise  his  prediction  could  he  see  you;  he  might 
say  the  divil  had  got  you — but  he  couldn't  pity 
me." 

She  turned  him  aside  from  this  by  saying:  "I 
reckon  New  York  is  a  great  deal  bigger  than  Chicago. 
Mr.  Moss  says  it  makes  any  other  town  seem  like  a 
county  seat.  I'm  dead  leery  of  it.  I  want  to  see  it,  but 
it  just  naturally  locoes  me  to  think  of  it." 

"  'Tis  the  only  place  to  spend  money — so  the  boys  tell 
me.  I've  never  been  there  but  once,  and  then  only  for 
three  days.  I  went  on  to  get  a  man  when  I  was  sheriff 

230 


MONEY    MAGIC 

in  San  Juan.     I  saw  it  then  mostly  as  a  wonderful  fine 
swamp  to  lose  a  thief  in." 

"Did  you  get  your  man?"  she  asked,  with  formal 
interest. 

"I  did  so — and  nearly  died  for  want  of  sleep  on  the 
way  home ;  he  was  a  desprit  character,  was  black  Hosay ; 
but  I  linked  him  to  me  arm  and  tuck  chances." 

Once  she  had  listened  to  these  stories  with  eager  in 
terest;  now  they  were  but  empty  boasting — -so  deeply 
inwrought  was  her  soul  with  matters  that  more  nearly 
concerned  her  woman's  need  and  woman's  nature.  The 
potency  of  gold ! — could  any  magic  be  greater  ?  They 
lived  like  folk  in  a  flying  palace  (with  books  and 
papers,  easy-chairs  and  card-tables),  eating  carefully 
cooked  meals,  served  by  attendants  as  considerate  and 
as  constant  as  those  at  their  own  fireside.  The  broad 
windows  gave  streaming  panorama  of  town  and  coun 
try,  hill  and  river,  and  the  young  wife  accepted  it  all 
with  the  haughty  air  of  one  who  is  wearied  with  splen 
dor,  but  inwardly  the  knowledge  that  it  all  came  to 
Haney  (as  to  her)  unearned  troubled  her.  Luck  was  his 
God,  but  she,  while  accepting  from  him  these  mar 
vellous,  shining  gifts,  had  another  God — -one  derived 
from  her  Saxon  ancestors,  one  to  whom  luxury  was 
akin  to  harlotry. 

They  left  the  train  at  Albany  and  went  to  the  best 
hotel  in  the  city  to  spend  the  night.  "To-morrow  I'll 
see  if  I  can  find  annybody  who  knows  where  the  old 
dad  is,"  said  Haney.  "  'Tis  too  late,  and  I'm  too  weary 
to  do  it  to-night." 

Bertha  was  tired,  too — mentally  wearied,  and  glad  of 
a  chance  to  be  alone.  She  went  at  once  to  her  room, 
leaving  the  Captain  and  Lucius  busy  with  the  Troy 
directory. 

16  231 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Haney  set  about  his  search  next  day  with  the  eager 
zeal  of  a  lad.  He  took  an  almost  childish  pleasure  in 
displaying  his  good-fortune  Through  Lucius  he  hired 
an  auto-car  as  good  as  the  one  he  had  left  in  Chicago, 
and  together  he  and  Bertha  rode  into  his  native  town, 
up  into  the  bleak,  brick-paved  ward  through  which  he 
had  roamed  when  a  cub.  It  had  changed,  of  course,  as 
all  things  American  must,  but  it  was  so  much  the  same, 
after  all,  that  he  could  point  out  the  alleys  where  he 
used  to  toss  pennies  and  play  cards  and  fight.  Every 
corner  was  historic  to  him.  "Phil  O'Brien  used  to 
keep  saloon  here  —  and  I've  earned  manny  a  dime 
sweepin'  out  for  his  barkeeper.  I  was  never  a  drunken 
lad,"  he  gravely  said;  "I  don't  know  why — I  had  all 
the  chance  there  was.  I've  been  moderate  of  drink  all 
me  life.  No,  I  won't  say  that — I'll  say  I  tuck  it  as  it 
came,  with  no  fear  and  no  favor.  When  playin',  I 
always  let  it  alone — it  spiled  me  nerve — I  let  the  other 
felly  do  the  drinkin'." 

Some  of  the  signs  were  unchanged,  and  he  sent  Lucius 
in  to  ask  the  proprietor  of  the  "Hoosac  Market"  to 
step  out;  and  when  he  appeared,  a  plump  man  with 
close-clipped  gray  hair  and  smoothly  shaven  face,  he 
shouted,  "Tis  old  Otto— just  the  man  I  nade.  Howdy, 
Otto  Siegel?" 

Siegel  shaded  his  eyes  and  looked  up  at  Haney.  "You 
haff  the  edventege  off  me  alretty." 

"I'm  Mart  Haney — you  remember  Mart  Haney." 

Siegel  grasped  the  situation.  "Sure!  Vy,  how  you 
vass  dis  dime,  eh!  Veil,  veil — you  gome  pack  in  style, 
ain't  it  ?  Your  daughter — yes  ?" 

"My  wife,"  said  Haney. 

Siegel  raised  a  fat  arm,  which  a  dirty  blue  undershirt 
imperfectly  draped,  and  Bertha  shook  hands  with  curt 

232 


MONEY    MAGIC 

politeness.  "Veil,  veil,  Mart,  you  must  haff  struck  a 
cold-mine  by  now,  hah?" 

"That's  what." 

"Veil,  veil!  and  I  licked  you  fer  hookin'  apples  off 
me  vonce — aind  dot  right?" 

Mart  grinned.  "I  reckon  that's  so.  I  said  I'd  cut 
you  in  two  when  I  grew  up;  all  boys  say  such  things, 
but  I  reckon  your  whalin'  did  me  good.  But  what  I 
want  to  know  is  this,  can  you  tell  me  where  to  find  the 
old  man  ?" 

"Your  fader?  He's  in  Brooklyn — •so  I  heart.  I 
don't  know.  My,  my!  he'll  be  clad  to  see  you — " 

"You  don't  know  his  address?" 

"No,  I  heart  he  was  livin'  mit  your  sister  Kate." 

"Donahue's  in  a  saloon,  I  reckon." 

"Always.  He  tondt  know  nodding  else.  You  can 
fint  him  in  the  directory — Chon  Donahue,  barkeep." 

"All  right  Much  obleeged."  Haney  looked  around. 
"I  don't  suppose  any  of  the  boys  are  livin'  here  now?" 

"Von  or  two.  Chake  Schmidt  iss  a  boliceman,  Harry 
Sullivan  iss  in  te  vater-vorks  department,  ant  a  few 
oders.  Mostly  dey  are  scattered;  some  are  teadt — 
many  are  teadt,"  he  added,  on  second  thought. 

"Well,  good-luck,"  and  Haney  reached  down  to  shake 
hands  again,  and  the  machine  began  to  whiz.  "Tell  all 
the  boys  'How.'" 

For  half  an  hour  they  ran  about  the  streets  at  his 
direction,  while  he  talked  on  about  his  youthful  joys 
and  sorrows.  "You  wouldn't  suppose  a  lad  could  have 
any  fun  in  such  a  place  as  this,"  he  said,  musingly,  "but 
I  did.  I  was  a  careless,  go-divil  pup,  and  had  a  power 
of  friends,  and  these  alleys  and  bare  brick  walls  were 
the  only  play-ground  we  had.  You  can't  cheat  a  boy 
— he's  goin'  to  have  a  good  time  if  he  has  three  grains  of 

233 


MONEY    MAGIC 

corn  in  his  belly  and  a  place  to  sleep  when  he's  tired. 
I  was  all  right  till  me  old  dad  started  to  put  me  into 
the  factory  to  work;  then  I  broke  loose.  I  could  work 
for  an  hour  or  two  as  hard  as  anny  one;  but  a  whole 
long  day — not  for  Mart !  Right  there  I  decided  to  emi 
grate  and  grow  up  with  the  Injuns." 

Bertha  listened  to  his  musing  comment  with  a  new 
light  upon  his  life.  She  had  little  cause  for  the  feeling 
of  disgust  which  came  to  her  while  studying  the  scenes 
of  his  boyhood — her  own  childhood  had  been  almost  as 
humble,  almost  as  cheerless — and  yet  she  could  not 
prevent  a  sinking  at  the  heart.  The  gambler,  so  pict 
uresque  in  his  wickedness,  was  becoming  commonplace. 
He  rose  from  such  petty  conditions,  after  all. 

Thus  far  the  question  of  his  family  relations  had  not 
troubled  her  very  much,  for,  aside  from  the  chance 
coming  of  Charles,  she  had  had  little  opportunity  of 
knowing  anything  about  the  Haneys,  and  they  had 
seemed  a  very  long  way  off;  but  now,  as  she  was  rush 
ing  down  upon  New  York  City,  with  the  promise  of 
not  only  rinding  the  father,  but  of  taking  him  back 
with  them  to  live,  she  began  to  doubt.  His  character 
was  of  the  greatest  importance,  in  view  of  his  taking  a 
seat  beside  their  fire. 

It  was  singular,  it  was  bewildering,  this  change  in  her 
estimate  of  Marshall  Haney.  The  deeper  he  sank  in 
reminiscent  meditation  the  farther  he  withdrew  from 
the  bold  and  splendid  freebooter  he  had  once  seemed 
to  her.  She  was  now  unjust  to  him  for  he  was  still 
capable  of  what  his  kind  call  "standing  pat."  The 
rough-and-ready  borderman  was  still  housed  under  the 
same  thatch  of  hair  with  the  sentimental  old  Irishman, 
and  yet  it  would  have  sorely  puzzled  the  keenest  ob 
server  to  discover  the  relationship  of  that  handsome, 

234 


MONEY    MAGIC 

rather  serious  browed,  richly  clothed  young  woman  and 
her  big,  elderly,  garrulous  companion.  Bertha  was  not 
easy  to  classify,  in  herself,  for  she  gave  out  an  air  of 
reserve  not  readily  accounted  for.  She  looked  to  be 
the  well -clothed,  carefully  reared  American  girl,  but 
her  gestures,  the  silent,  unsmiling  way  in  which  she  re 
ceived  what  was  said  to  her  —  something  indefinably 
alert  and  self-masterful  without  being  self-conscious — 
gave  her  a  mysterious  charm. 

She1  was  profoundly  absorbed  in  the  great,  historic 
river  on  her  right,  and  yet  she  did  not  cry  out  as  other 
girls  of  her  age  would  have  done.  She  read  her  folder 
and  kept  vigilant  eyes  upon  all  the  passing  points  of 
interest — even  as  Haney  rumbled  on  about  Charles  and 
his  father  and  Kate — more  than  half  distraught  by  the 
vague  recollections  she  had  of  her  school  histories  and 
geographies.  How  little  she  knew!  "I  must  buckle 
down  to  some  kind  of  study,"  she  repeatedly  said  to 
herself,  as  if  it  helped  her  to  a  more  inflexible  resolution. 

Soon  the  mighty  city  and  its  fabled  sea-shore  began 
to  scare  her  soul  with  vague  alarms  and  exultations. 
Manhattan  was  as  remote  to  her  as  London,  and  as 
splendidly  alien  as  Paris.  It  was,  indeed,  both  London 
and  Paris  to  her.  Its  millions  of  people  appalled  her. 
How  could  so  many  folk  live  in  one  place  ? 

Again  the  magic  power  of  money  bucklered  her. 
It  was  good  to  think  that  they  were  to  go  to  the  best 
hotels,  and  that  she  had  no  need  to  trouble  herself 
about  anything,  for  Lucius  settled  everything.  He  tel 
egraphed  for  rooms,  he  assembled  all  their  baggage  and 
tipped  their  porters:  and  when  they  rushed  into  the 
long  tunnel  in  Harlem  he  was  free  to  take  the  Captain 
by  the  arm  and  help  him  to  the  forward  end  of  the  car 
ready  to  alight,  leaving  Bertha  to  follow  without  so 

235 


MONEY    MAGIC 

much  as  a  satchel  to  burden  her  arm.  Haney  had  ac 
cepted  Lucius'  assurance  that  the  Park  Palace  was  the 
smart  hostelry,  and  to  this  they  drove  as  to  some  un 
known  inn  in  a  foreign  capital. 

It  was  gorgeous  enough  to  belong  in  the  tale  of 
Aladdin's  lamp  —  a  palace,  in  very  truth,  with  en 
trance-hall  in  keeping  with  the  glittering,  roaring  Ave 
nue  through  which  they  drove,  and  which  was  to  Bertha 
quite  as  strange  as  a  boulevard  in  Berlin  would  have 
been.  Lucius  conducted  them  into  the  reception-room 
with  an  air  of  proprietorship,  and  soon  had  waiters, 
maids  and  bell-boys  "jumping."  His  management  was 
masterful.  He  knew  just  what  time  to  give  each  man, 
and  just  how  much  to  say  concerning  his  master  and 
mistress.  He  conveyed  to  the  clerk  that  while  Captain 
Haney  didn't  want  any  foolish  display,  he  liked  things 
comfortable  round  him,  and  the  colored  man's  tone,  as 
he  spoke  that  word  "comfortable,"  was  far-reaching  in 
effect.  The  best  available  places  were  put  at  his  com 
mand. 

Bertha  accepted  it  all  with  cold  impassivity;  it  was 
only  a  little  higher  gloss,  a  little  more  glitter  than  they 
had  suffered  in  Chicago;  and  she  was  getting  used  to 
seeing  men  in  braid  and  buttons  "hustle"  when  she 
came  near.  The  suite  of  rooms  to  which  they  were 
conducted  looked  out  on  Fifth  Avenue,  as  Lucius 
proudly  explained ;  and  from  their  windows  he  designa 
ted  some  of  the  houses  of  the  millionaires  who  receive 
the  homage  of  the  less  rich  (and  of  the  very  poor)  which 
only  nobility  can  command  in  Europe.  Bertha  be 
trayed  no  eager  interest  in  these  notables,  but  she  was 
very  deeply  impressed  by  the  far-famed  Avenue,  which 
was  already  thickening  with  the  daily  five-o'clock  pa 
rade  of  carriages,  auto-cars,  and  pedestrians. 

236 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Lucius  explained  this  custom,  and  said:  "If  you'd 
like  to  go  out  I'll  get  a  car." 

"Let's  do  it!"  she  exclaimed  to  Haney. 

"Sure!  get  one.  These  smell -wagons  must  have 
been  invented  for  cripples  like  me." 

Bertha  took  that  ride  in  the  spirit  of  one  who  never 
expects  to  do  it  again,  and  so  deeply  did  the  city  print 
itself  upon  her  memory  that  she  was  able  to  recall  years 
afterwards  a  hundred  of  its  glittering  points,  angles,  and 
facets.  She  felt  herself  up-borne  by  money.  Without 
Haney's  bank-book  she  would  have  been  merely  one 
of  those  minute  insects  who  timidly  sought  to  cross  the 
street,  and  yet  philosophers  marvel  at  the  race  men 
make  for  gold!  So  long  as  silken  parasols  and  automo 
biles  mad  with  pride  are  keenly  enjoyed,  so  long  will 
Americans — and  all  others  who  have  them  not — struggle 
for  them ;  for  they  are  not  only  the  signs  of  distinction 
and  luxury,  they  are  delights.  A  private  car  is  not 
merely  display ;  it  is  comfort.  To  have  a  suite  of  rooms 
at  the  Park  Palace  is  not  all  show ;  it  makes  for  homely 
ease,  cleanliness,  repose.  And  these  people  riding  im 
periously  to  and  fro  in  Fifth  Avenue  buy  not  merely 
diamonds,  but  well-cooked  food,  warm  and  shining  rai 
ment,  and  freedom  from  the  scramble  on  the  pave. 

Some  understanding  of  all  this  was  beating  home  to 
Bertha's  head  and  heart.  She  had  as  yet  no  keen  de 
sire  for  the  glitter  of  wealth,  but  its  grateful  shelter,  its 
power  to  defend  and  nurture,  were  qualities  which  had 
begun  to  make  its  lure  almost  irresistible.  Haney 
liked  the  auto-car,  not  for  its  red  and  gold  (which  de 
lighted  Lucius),  but  for  its  handiness  in  taking  him 
about  the  city.  It  saved  him  from  climbing  in  and 
out  of  a  high  car  door ;  it  was  swifter  and  safer  than  a 
carriage;  therefore,  he  was  ready  to  purchase  its  speed 

237 


MONEY    MAGIC 

and  convenience.  He  cared  little  for  the  sensation  he 
would  create  in  riding  up  to  his  sister's  door  in  Brooklyn, 
though  he  chuckled  mightily  at  the  thought  of  what  his 
old  dad  would  say ;  and  as  they  claimed  a  place  among 
the  millionaires  he  broke  into  a  sly  smile.  "If  ever  a 
bog-trotter  landed  at  Castle  Garden,  me  father  was 
wan  o'  them.  I  can  remember  the  hat  he  wore.  'Twas 
a  'stovepipe,'  sure  enough.  It  had  no  rim  at  all  at  all! 
It  was  fuzzy  as  a  cat.  If  he  didn't  have  a  green  vest 
it  was  a  wonder.  He  took  me  to  see  a  play  once  just 
to  show  me  how  he  did  look.  He  was  onto  his  own 
curves,  was  old  dad.  I  hope  he's  livin'  yet.  I'd  like 
to  take  him  up  the  Avenue  in  this  car  and  hear  the 
speel  he'd  put  up." 

Bertha  was  in  growing  uneasiness,  and  when  alone  at 
the  close  of  her  wonderful  ride  through  this  marvellous 
city,  so  clean,  so  vast,  so  packed  with  stores  of  all  things 
rich  and  beautiful,  she  went  to  her  room  in  a  blur  of 
doubt.  Now  that  an  unspoken,  half -formed  resolution 
to  free  herself  was  in  her  mind,  she  realized  that  every 
extravagance  like  this  ride,  these  gorgeous  rooms,  sank 
her  deeper  into  helpless  indebtedness  to  Marshall  Haney . 
And  this  knowledge  now  took  away  the  keen  edge  of 
her  delight,  making  her  food  bitter  and  her  pillow  hot. 

In  the  midst  of  her  troubled  thinking,  Lucius  knocked 
at  the  door  to  ask:  "Will  you  go  down  to  dinner  or  shall 
I  have  it  sent  up?" 

"Oh  no,  I'll  go  down." 

"They  dress  for  dinner,  ma'am." 

"Do  they?     What  '11  I  wear?" 

He  considered  a  moment.  "Any  light  silk — semi- 
dress  will  do.  I'll  send  a  maid  in  to  help  you." 

"No,  I  don't  need  a  maid.  They're  a  nuisance,"  she 
quickly  answered. 

238 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Lucius'  attitude  towards  her  was  more  than  respect 
ful — it  was  paternal;  for  she  made  no  more  secret  of 
her  early  condition  than  Haney,  and  the  colored  man 
enjoyed  serving  them.  He  seemed  perfectly  happy  in 
advising,  cautioning,  directing  them,  and  was  deeply 
impressed  with  their  powers  of  adaptability — was,  in 
truth,  developing  a  genuine  affection  for  them  both. 
He  was  a  lonely  little  man,  Bertha  had  learned,  with 
no  near  kin  in  the  States,  and  the  fact  that  he  came 
from  an  Island  in  the  sea  made  him  less  of  a  "nigger  " 
to  the  Captain,  who  had  the  usual  amount  of  prejudice 
against  both  black  and  red  men. 

The  high -keyed,  sumptuous  dining -hall  was  rilled 
with  small  tables  exquisitely  furnished,  and  the  car 
pets  underfoot,  thick-piled  and  deep-toned,  gave  a 
singular  solemnity  to  the  function  of  eating.  It  was  a 
temple  raised  to  the  glory  of  terrapin  and  "alligator 
pears";  and  as  the  Captain  moved  slowly  across  the 
aisles,  closely  attended  by  a  zealous  waiter  he,  smiled 
and  said  to  his  wife:  "This  is  a  long  ways  from  Sibley 
and  the  Golden  Eagle,  Bertie,  don't  you  think?" 

"It  sure  is,"  she  replied,  and  her  laughing  lips  and  big 
pansy-purple  eyes  made  her  seem  very  young  and  very 
gay  again. 

Around  her  men  and  women  in  evening  dress  were 
feeding  subduedly,  while  bevies  of  hawklike  waiters 
swooped  and  circled,  bearing  platters,  tureens,  and 
baskets  of  iced  wine-bottles.  It  made  the  hotel  at 
Chicago  appear  like  a  plain,  old-fashioned  tavern,  so 
remote,  so  European,  so  lavish,  and  yet  so  exagger 
atedly  quiet,  was  this  service.  Some  of  the  women  at 
the  tables  were  spangled  like  the  queens  of  the  stage ; 
mainly  they  were  not  only  gloriously  gowned,  but  in 
harmony  with  the  sumptuous  beauty  around  them. 

"239 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Their  adornments  made  Bertha  feel  very  rural  and  very 
shy. 

"I  wish  I  was  younger,"  the  Captain  said,  "I'd  take 
ye  to  the  theatre  to-night,  but  I'm  too  tired.  I  could 
go  for  a  couple  of  hours,  but — to  miss  me  sleep — •" 

"Don't  think  of  it,"  she  hastened  to  command.  "I 
don't  want  to  go.  I'm  just  about  all  in,  myself." 

"'Tis  a  shame,  darlin',  surely  it  is,  to  keep  you  from 
havin'  a  good  time  just  because  I  am  an  old  helpless  side 
o'  beef.  Tis  not  in  me  heart  to  play  dog  in  the  manger, 
Bertie.  If  ye'd  like  to  go,  do  so.  Lucius  will  take 
ye." 

"Nit,"  she  curtly  replied;  "you  rest  up,  and  we'll 
go  to-morrow  night.  We  might  take  another  turn  and 
see  the  town  by  electric  light;  you  could  kind  o'  lean 
back  in  the  car  and  take  it  easy." 

This  they  did;  and  it  was  more  moving,  more  appall 
ing,  to  the  girl  than  by  day.  The  fury  of  traffic  on 
Broadway,  the  crowds  of  people,  the  endless  strings  of 
brilliantly  lighted  street-cars,  the  floods  of  'busses,  auto 
cars,  cabs,  and  carriages  poured  in  upon  the  girl's  re 
ceptive  brain  a  tide  of  perceptions  of  the  city's  wealth, 
power,  and  complexity  of  social  life  which  amazed  while 
it  exalted  her.  The  idea  that  she  might  share  in  all 
this  dazzled  her.  "We  could  live  here,"  she  thought; 
"the  Captain's  income  would  keep  us  just  anyway  we 
wanted  to  live."  But  a  vision  of  her  own  beautiful 
house  under  the  shadow  of  the  great  peak  came  back 
to  reproach  her.  Her  horses  and  dogs  awaited  her. 
This  tumultuous  island  was  only  a  place  to  visit,  after 
all. 

"Do  you  suppose  this  goes  on  every  night  ?"  she  said 
to  Haney,  as  they  turned  off  Broadway. 

"I  reckon  it  does,"  he  said.  "How  is  that,  Lucius?" 
240 


MONEY    MAGIC 

he  asked.  "Is  this  a  special  performance,  or  does  the 
old  town  do  this  every  night?" 

"In  the  season,  yes,  sir.  It's  the  last  week  of  the 
Opera,  and  it  '11  be  quieter  now  till  November." 

They  returned  to  their  hotel  with  a  sense  of  having 
touched  the  ultimate  in  civic  splendor,  human  pride, 
and  social  complexity.  New  York  had  met  most  of 
their  ideals.  They  were  glad  it  was  on  American  soil  and 
in  the  nation's  metropolis;  but,  after  all,  it  remained 
alien  and  mysterious,  of  a  rank  with  Paris  and  Lon 
don — the  gateway  city  of  the  nation,  where  the  Old 
World  meets  and  mingles  with  the  New. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

BERTHA    MAKES    A    PROMISE 

A 5  for  Marshall  Haney,  as  he  went  about  New  York 
and  Brooklyn  in  search  of  his  relations,  he  was 
astounded  at  the  translation  of  the  Irish  laborer  into 
something  else.  "In  my  time,  when  I  left  Troy,  all 
the  work  in  the  streets  was  done  by  'micks,'  as  they 
called  'em.  Now  they're  gone — whisked  away  as  ye'd 
sweep  away  a  swarm  of  red  ants,  and  here's  these  black 
Dagos  in  their  places.  Where's  the  Irishman  gone — 
up  or  down?  That's  what's  eatin'  me.  Is  he  dead 
or  translated  to  a  higher  speer  ?  'Tis  a  mysterious  dis 
pensation,  and  troubles  me  much." 

He  found  a  good  many  Donahues  in  Brooklyn,  and 
plenty  of  them  barkeepers;  and  after  he'd  pulled  up 
half  a  dozen  times  at  these  "joints"  Bertha  began  to 
pout.  She  didn't  like  such  places;  and  as  they  were 
riding  in  a  showy  auto-car  (the  grandest  Lucius  could 
secure) ,  they  were  pretty  middling  noticeable.  At  last 
she  said,  more  sharply  than  she  had  ever  spoken  to 
him  before:  "Mart,  I  don't  want  any  more  of  this.  If 
you  want  to  visit  all  the  saloons  in  Brooklyn,  I  don't. 
Here's  where  I  get  out." 

He  was  instantly  remorseful.  "I  was  thinkin'  of 
that  myself,  Bertie.  Lucius  and  I  will  go  on  alone. 
We'll  send  you  back  to  the  hotel  in  the  'mobile  whilst 
we  take  a  hack." 

242 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Half  doubting,  half  glad,  she  consented  to  this  ar 
rangement,  and  was  soon  whirling  back  towards  the 
ferry,  her  guilty  feeling  giving  place  to  a  sense  of  relief, 
as  if  a  huge  weight  had  been  lifted  from  her  shoulders — 
for  a  moment.  She  began  to  understand  that  half 
the  pleasure  she  had  taken  in  her  hours  with  Moss  and 
Humiston  lay  in  the  freedom  from  her  husband's  over 
shadowing  presence.  He  was  not  a  man  to  be  ignored, 
as  she  had  seen  wives  ignore  and  put  aside  their  meek 
partners.  Marshall  Haney  even  yet  was  a  dominating 
personality,  even  though  his  family  affairs  were  so  in 
sistent  and  so  difficult  to  manage  or  explain.  If  the 
father  came  her  joy  in  her  home  would  be  gone,  and 
yet  she  had  no  right  to  refuse  him  shelter. 

At  the  same  time  she  was  less  sure  of  her  place  in  the 
world,  now  that  she  was  alone.  She  had  the  feeling 
that  if  anything  were  to  happen  —  if  the  motorman 
should  demand  his  pay  at  the  door,  or  the  hotel- 
keeper  refuse  to  go  her  bond,  she  would  be  helpless.  The 
Captain,  for  all  his  shortcomings  and  physical  disability, 
was  master  of  every  situation.  He  had  been  schooled 
by  stern  powers,  and  his  capabilities  of  defence  were  still 
equal  to  almost  any  need. 

On  the  ferry-boat  she  found  herself  surrounded  by  the 
swarms  of  people  who  are  forever  calculating  expen 
ditures,  who  never  desert  a  garment,  and  who  finger  a 
nickel  lovingly;  and  she  caught  them  looking  at  her  as 
upon  one  of  those  who  enjoy  without  earning  it  the 
product  of  their  toil.  They  made  way  for  her,  as  she 
got  down  and  walked  to  the  railing,  as  they  would  have 
done  for  a  millionaire's  daughter,  a  little  surlily,  and 
she  divined  without  understanding  this  enmity,  but 
was  too  exalted  by  the  glittering  bay,  with  its  romance 
of  ship  and  sea  and  shore  and  town,  to  very  much  mind 

243 


MONEY    MAGIC 

what  her  threadbare  fellow-passengers  thought  of  her. 
These  dark-hulled,  ocean-going  vessels,  these  alien  flags, 
widened  her  horizon — deepened  her  sense  of  the  earth's 
wonder  and  the  wide-flung  nerves  of  national  interest. 
From  this  sea-level  she  looked  up  in  fancy  to  her  brother's 
ranch  near  Sibley  as  at  a  cabin  on  a  mountain-side. 
How  still  and  faint  and  far  it  seemed  at  the  moment! 

At  the  word  of  the  chauffeur  she  climbed  back  into 
her  car,  returning  to  the  isolation  which  money  now 
provided  for  her.  And  so,  girt  about  with  velvet  and 
costly  wood  and  gilding,  she  rode  up  through  the  tear 
ing  throngs  of  the  wharf,  whirling  past  cars  and  trucks, 
outspeeding  cabs  and  carriages,  protected  by  a  gam 
bler's  name,  royally  isolated  and  defensible  by  his 
money.  As  she  spun  through  Fifth  Avenue,  so  smooth 
of  pave,  so  crowded,  so  sparkling,  so  far-reaching  in 
its  suggestions  of  security  and  power,  the  girl's  soul 
entered  upon  a  new  and  fierce  phase  of  its  struggle. 

It  was  a  larger  and  more  absorbing  fairy  story  than 
any  in  the  Arabian  Nights.  Without  Marshall  Haney, 
without  the  gold  he  brought,  she  could  never  have 
even  looked  upon  this  scene.  She  would  at  this 
moment  have  been  standing  inside  her  little  counter  at 
the  Golden  Eagle,  selling  cigars  to  some  brakeman  or 
cowboy.  Ed  Winchell  would  be  coming  to  ask  her,  as 
usual,  to  marry  him,  and  her  mother  would  still  be  toil 
ing  in  the  hot  kitchen  or  be  at  rest  in  her  grave.  Did 
ever  Aladdin's  lamp  translate  its  owner  farther  or  lift 
him  higher  ?  Was  not  her  refusal  to  be  Marshall  Han 
ey 's  wife  the  basest  ingratitude? 

Not  merely  so,  but  the  girl  felt  in  herself  potentialities 
not  yet  drawn  upon,  unlimited  capabilities  leading 
towards  the  accomplishment  of  good.  Money  had  not 
merely  the  magic  of  exalting,  educating,  refining,  and 

244 


MONEY    MAGIC 

ennobling  the  individual  (herself);  it  had  radiating, 
transforming  power  for  others.  It  could  diffuse 
warmth  like  a  flame,  and  send  forth  joy  like  a  bell. 
"With  it  I  am  safe,  strong:  I  can  help  the  poor.  With 
out  it  I  am  only  a  struggling  girl,  like  millions  of  others, 
with  no  chance  and  no  power  to  aid  those  who  suf 
fer."  But  at  this  point  her  love  re-entered  and  her 
sense  of  right  was  confused.  After  all  the  heart 
ruled. 

At  the  hotel  entrance  the  head  porter  was  waiting  to 
help  her  out,  and  the  chauffeur,  without  a  word  or 
look  of  reminder,  puffed  away,  secure  in  the  reputation 
Lucius  had  given  to  Haney.  As  she  went  to  her  room 
the  maid  met  her  with  gentle  solicitude,  and,  after  at 
tending  to  her  needs,  considerately  withdrew,  leaving 
her  deep-sunk  in  troubled  musing. 

Up  to  the  coming  of  Ben  Fordyce  she  had  accepted 
all  that  Haney  gave  her  as  from  one  good  friend  to 
another.  Once  having  satisfied  herself  that  the  money 
was  clean  of  any  taint  from  gambling-hall  and  saloon, 
she  had  not  hesitated  to  use  it.  But  now  something  was 
rising  within  her  which  changed  the  current  of  her 
purpose.  Haney  was  no  longer  before  the  bar  of  her 
conscience;  the  soul  under  question  was  her  own. 
Dimly,  yet  with  ever-growing  definiteness,  she  saw  the 
moment  of  decision  approach.  She  must  soon  decide 
whether  to  continue  on  the  smooth,  broad  highway 
with  Haney,  or  to  return  to  the  mountain- trail  from 
which  he  had  taken  her. 

While  still  she  sat  sombrely  looking  out  over  the 
city's  roofs,  Humiston's  card  was  brought  to  her,  and 
at  the  moment,  in  her  loneliness  and  doubt,  he  seemed 
like  an  old  friend.  "Tell  him  to  come  up,"  she  said, 
with  instant  cordiality,  and  her  face  shone  with  inno- 

245 


MONEY    MAGIC 

cent  pleasure  when  she  met  him.  "I'm  mighty  glad 
to  see  you,"  she  frankly  said,  in  greeting. 

He  misconceived  her  feeling,  and  took  advantage  of 
it  to  retain  her  hand.  "I  assure  you  I  am  delighted 
to  find  you  again." 

"I  thought  you'd  forgot  us." 

His  eyes  expressed  a  bold  admiration  as  he  answered: 
"I  have  done  nothing  but  remember  you.  I've  been 
in  Pittsburg  (only  got  back  to  town  yesterday),  and 
here  I  am."  He  looked  about.  "Where  is  the 
Captain?" 

She  withdrew  her  hand.  "He's  out  looking  for  his 
father.  He'll  return  soon.  He's  liable  to  look  in  any 
minute  now." 

"You  are  lovelier  than  ever.     How  is  the  Captain?" 

"Pretty  well.  He  gets  tired  fairly  easy,  but  he  feels 
better  than  he  did." 

His  look  of  eager  intensity  embarrassed  her.  After  a 
little  pause,  he  remarked:  "I  am  holding  you  to  your 
promise.  Can't  you  come  over  to  my  studio  this 
afternoon?" 

"No,  not  to-day.  I  must  be  here  when  the  Captain 
comes.  He  may  bring  the  old  father  along,  and  he'd 
feel  lost  if  I  should  be  gone.  Maybe  I  could  come  to 
morrow." 

"Don't  bring  the  Captain  unless  you  have  to — he'll 
be  bored,"  he  said,  in  the  hope  that  she  would  get  his 
full  meaning.  "I  want  to  introduce  you  to  some 
friends  of  mine." 

"Oh,  don't  do  that!"  she  protested.  "I'm  afraid  of 
your  friends — they're  all  so  way- wised  while  I  am  hardly 
bridle-broke." 

"You  need  not  fear,"  he  replied;  "you  are  most  to 
be  envied.  No  one  can  have  more  than  health,  wealth, 

246 


MONEY    MAGIC 

and  youth  and  beauty.  I  would  not  hesitate  to  in 
troduce  you  anywhere."  His  admiration  was  so  out 
spoken,  so  choicely  worded, 'that  she  could  not  distrust 
him,  though  Mrs.  Moss  had  more  than  once  hinted  to 
her  that  he  was  not  to  be  entirely  honored.  "He  isn't 
a  man  to  be  careless  with,"  she  had  once  said,  and  yet 
he  seemed  so  high-minded,  so  profoundly  concerned 
with  the  beautiful  world  of  art.  How  could  a  single- 
hearted  Western  girl  believe  ill  of  him  ?  He  could  not 
be  evil  in  the  ways  in  which  men  were  wicked  in  Sib- 
ley.  His  sensitive  face  was  too  weary  and  his  eyes  too 
sad. 

He  was  adroit  enough  to  make  his  call  short,  and 
withdrew,  leaving  a  very  pleasant  impression  in  her 
mind.  She  felt  distinctly  less  lonely,  now  that  she 
knew  he  was  in  the  city,  and  she  was  still  at  the  win 
dow  musing  about  him  when  Haney  returned,  bringing 
his  father  with  him. 

The  elder  Haney  interested  and  amused  her  in  spite 
of  her  perplexities — he  was  so  quaintly  of  the  old  type 
of  Irishman  and  so  absurdly  small  to  be  the  father  of 
a  giant.  He  carried  a  shrewd  and  kindly  face,  withered 
and  toothless,  yet  not  without  a  certain  charm  of  line. 
Mart's  fine  profile  was  like  his  sire's,  only  larger,  bolder, 
and  calmer. 

With  a  chuckle  he  introduced  him.  "Bertie,  this  is 
me  worthless  old  dad."  And  Patrick,  though  he  was 
sidling  and  side-stepping  with  the  awkwardness  of  a 
cat  on  wet  ice,  still  retained  his  Celtic  self-possession. 

"Lave  Mart  to  slander  the  soorce  av  aal  his  good 
qualities,"  he  retorted.  "He  was  iver  an  uncivil  divil 
to  me — after  the  day  he  first  thrun  me  down,  the  big 
gawk." 

Mart  took  the  little  man  by  the  collar  and  twirled  him 
17  247 


MONEY    MAGIC 

about.     "  Luk  at  'im!     Did  he  ever  feel  the  like  of  such 
cloes  in  his  life?" 

Patrick  grinned  a  wide,  silent,  mirthful  grimace. 
"Sure  me  heart  is  warmed  wid  'em.  I  feel  as  well 
trussed  as  me  lady's  footman." 

It  was  plain  that  every  thread  on  the  old  man  was 
new.  Mart  explained,  "I  stripped  him  to  the  buff 
and  built  him  up  plumb  to  his  necktie,  which  is  green 
— the  wan  thing  he  would  have  to  his  own  taste.  To 
morrow  we  go  to  the  tooth-factory." 

"'Tis  a  waste  of  good  money,"  interjected  Patrick. 
"I  ate  soup." 

' '  Soup  be  damned !  Ye've  manny  a  steak  to  eat  with 
me,  ye  contrary  little  baboon.  Tis  a  pity  if  I  can't  do 
as  I  like  with  me  own.  Do  as  I  say,  and  be  gay." 
'  Patrick  cackled  again,  and  his  little  twinkling  eyes 
were  half  hid.  "Ye  may  load  me  with  jewels  and  goold, 
me  lad,  but  divil  a  once  do  I  allow  a  man  wid  a  feet- 
lathe  boring-machine  to  enter  me  head." 

"Ye  have  nothing  to  bore,  ye  old  jackass!  Divil  a 
rock  is  left  to  prospect  in— so  don't  fuss." 

Bertha  interjected  a  question.  "Where  did  you 
find  him?" 

"Marking  up  in  a  pool-room.  Nice  place  for  the 
father  of  Captain  Haney!  'Come  out  o'  that,'  I  says, 
'or  fight  me.'  And  the  old  fox  showed  gooms  at  me, 
and  says  he:  'I  notice  ye're  crippled,  Mart.  I  think 
I'll  jest  take  what  ye  owe  me  out  of  yer  hide."1  They 
both  chuckled  at  the  recollection  of  it.  Then  Mart 
went  on:  "I'll  not  disgrace  me  wife  by  telling  what  the 
old  tramp  had  on.  I  tuck  him  by  the  shoulder  and  I 
said:  'Have  ye  anny  Sunday  clothes?'  I  said.  'Narry 
a  thread,'  says  he.  'Come  along  with  me,'  I  says. 
'You  can't  visit  my  wife  in  the  hotel  till  every  thread 

248 


MONEY    MAGIC 

on  yer  corpus  is  changed,'  for  Donahue  keeps  a  dirty 
place.  So  here  he  is — scrubbed,  fumigated,  barbered, 
and  tailored ;  and  when  he  gets  his  cellulide  teeth  he'll 
make  as  slick  a  little  Irishman  as  ever  left  the  old  sod." 
Here  his  face  became  sadly  tender.  ' '  I  wish  the  mother 
was  alive,  too;  I'd  make  her  rustle  in  silks,  so  I  would. 
Heaven  rest  her!" 

The  father's  face  grew  suddenly  accusing  in  line. 
"Ye  waited  too  long,  ye  vagabond.  Yer  change  of 
heart  comes  too  late." 

"I  know  it — I  know  it!  But  I  could  never  find  time 
till  a  man  with  a  shotgun  pointed  the  way  to  it.  Now 
I  have  all  the  time  there  is,  and  she's  gone." 

In  this  moment  of  passing  shadow  Bertha  caught  a 
glimpse  of  the  significance  of  the  scene — of  the  wonder, 
almost  alarm,  which  filled  the  old  man's  heart  as  he 
stood  there  scared  of  the  flaming  splendor  of  the  room 
into  which  the  sunlight  fell,  exaggerating  its  gold  and 
pink  and  green,  but  bringing  out  the  excellence  of  the 
furnishing,  the  richness  of  the  silk  tapestry. 

The  old  man  touched  a  gilded  chair  tenderly,  and 
Mart  cried  out:  "Lay  hold,  man,  'twill  not  rub  off!  Sit 
down  and  look  about  ye !  Out  with  your  new  pipe  and 
smoke  up!" 

He  took  a  seat  with  forced  confidence,  and  looked 
about  him.  "I  wish  Donahue  and  Kate  could  see 
this." 

Mart  turned  a  quietly  humorous  eye  on  Bertha. 
"Not  this  trip.  I  couldn't  manage  Kate,"  he  explained. 
' '  She  looks  like  Fan — only  more  so ;  and  she  has  a  lit 
ter  o'  young  Donahues  would  make  ye  wonder  could 
the  world  have  room  for  them  all." 

Haney  the  elder  had  something  more  than  the  bog- 
trotter  in  him,  for  as  he  grew  towards  a  little  more 

249 


MONEY    MAGIC 

assurance  that  Mart  would  not  be  thrown  out  of  his 
hotel  for  non-payment  of  bills,  he  settled  down  to  en 
joy  his  glass  of  rare  whiskey  and  a  costly  cigar  with 
an  assumption  of  ease  that  almost  deceived  the  maid, 
though  Lucius,  being  in  the  secret,  watched  him  anx 
iously  for  fear  he  might  expectorate  on  the  rug. 

Mart  had  some  "p'otographs"  of  his  house  in  the 
Springs,  and  showed  them  to  Patrick.  "Do  ye  see  yer- 
self  smokin'  a  pipe  on  that  porch?" 

"I  do  not,"  the  father  energetically  replied.  "I  see 
meself  goin'  the  rounds  of  that  garden  with  a  waterin'- 
pot  and  a  pair  of  shears." 

"I  thought  ye  was  a  bricklayer,  or  is  it  a  billiard- 
marker?"  asked  Mart,  with  quizzical  look. 

"I  can  turn  me  hand  to  anny  honest  work,"  he  re 
plied,  with  dignity.  "An'  can  ye  say  as  much?" 

"I  cannot,"  confessed  Mart.  "Had ye  put  a  club  to 
me  back  and  foorced  me  to  a  trade,  sure  I'd  be  lay  in' 
brick  in  Troy  this  day." 

This  retort  fairly  blinded  the  sturdy  little  father. 
The  charge  was  false,  and  yet  here  sat  Mart — a  gentle 
man.  While  still  he  puzzled  over  the  dangerous  ac 
knowledgment  involved  in  his  son's  accusation,  Mart 
turned  to  Bertha.  "Do  ye  mind  the  old  man's  spendin' 
the  rest  of  his  days  with  us,  darlin'  ?" 

"You're  the  doctor,  Mart.    It's  your  house,  not  mine." 

He  felt  the  change  in  her.  "Oh  no,  it  isn't;  it's  our 
house.  I  never  would  have  had  it  only  for  you."  He 
paused  a  moment.  "The  dad  is  a  well-meaning  old 
rascal,  and  I'll  go  bail  he  don't  do  mischief." 

Patrick  took  this  up.  "He  is  so,  and  he  means  to 
kape  to  his  own  way  of  life.  If  I  go  West,  me  b'y, 
'tis  on  wages  as  a  gardener — and,  bedad,  I'll  draw  'em 
reg'ler,  too.  I'd  like  well  to  go  West  ('twould  rejice  me 

250 


MONEY    MAGIC 

to  see  Fan  and  McArdle) ,  and  I  don't  object  to  spendin' 
a  year  with  you  in  Color  ay  do,  but  don't  think  Patrick 
Haney  is  to  be  pinsioner  on  anny  one,  not  even  his  son." 

Bertha's  heart  vibrated  in  sympathy  with  this  note 
of  independence,  and  she  heartily  said:  "I  hope  you 
will  come,  Mr.  Haney.  The  Captain  is  alone  a  good 
deal,  and  you'd  be  a  comfort  to  him." 

"I'll  consider,"  the  old  man  said.  "I  must  have 
time  to  rea-lize  it , "  he  quaintly  added .  "I  must  smoke 
me  pipe  in  me  own  garret  once  more,  and  talk  it  all  over 
with  Kate  and  the  Donahues."  He  refused  to  stay 
to  dinner  with  them  (which  was  a  relief  to  Lucius) ,  and 
went  away  jaunty  as  a  bucko  from  County  Clare. 

He  was  no  sooner  gone  from  the  room  than  Bertha 
turned  to  her  husband,  and  said:  "Mart,  I  want  to 
talk  things  over  with  you." 

Something  in  her  voice,  as  well  as  in  the  words,  made 
him  turn  quickly  and  regard  her  anxiously. 

"What  about?     What  is  it,  darlin'?" 

"I  have  something  on  my  mind,  and  I've  got  to  spit 
it  out  before  I  can  rest  to-night.  I've  just  about  decided 
to  leave  you.  I  don't  feel  right  livin'  with  you." 

He  looked  at  her  steadily,  but  a  gray  pallor  began  to 
show  on  his  face.  He  asked,  quietly:  "Do  ye  mean 
to  gofer  good?" 

Her  heart  was  beating  fast,  but  she  bravely  faced 
him.  "Yes,  Mart,  I  don't  feel  right  living  with  you, 
and  spending  your  money  the  way  I've  been  doing." 

"Why  not?  It  isn't  mine — it's  yours.  Ye  aim 
every  cent  ye  spend." 

"No,  I  don't!"  she  cried,  passionately.  "Now  that 
you're  getting  better  and  Lucius  has  come,  I'm  not 
even  a  nurse." 

"I'll  send  him  away." 

251 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"No,  no;  he's  worth  more  than  I  am." 

"I'll  not  listen  to  such  talk,  Bertie.  Ye  well  know 
you're  the  thing  most  precious  to  me.  I  can't  live  with- 
out  ye."  His  voice  thickened.  "For  God  A'mighty's 
sake,  don't  say  such  things;  they  make  me  heart  shake! 
Me  teeth  are  chatterin'  this  minute!  Ye're  jokin';  say 
you  don't,  mean  it." 

"But  I  do.  Don't  you  see  that  I  can't  stay  and  let 
you  do  things  for  me  like  this  " — she  indicated  their 
apartment— "when  I  do  so  little  to  earn  it  all?  Mart, 
I've  got  to  be  honest  about  it.  I  can't  let  you  spend 
any  more  money  on  me.  Help  your  own  people,  and 
let  me  go.  I  do  nothing  to  pay  for  what  you  do  for 
me.  It's  better  for  me  to  go." 

She  could  not  bring  herself  to  be  as  explicit  as  she 
should  have  been,  but  he  was  not  far  from  under 
standing  her  real  meaning,  as  he  brokenly  replied:  "I've 
been  afraid  of  this,  my  girl.  I've  thought  of  it  all. 
The  money  I  spend  fer  ye  is  but  a  small  part  of  my  debt. 
You  say  you  do  nothing  for  me.  Why,  darlin',  every 
time  you  come  into  the  room  or  smile  at  me  you  do 
much  for  me!  I'm  a  selfish  old  wolf,  but  I'm  not  so 
bad  as  you  think  I  am.  If  anny  nice  young  felly 
comes  along — a  good  square  man — I'll  get  off  the  track ; 
but  I  want  you  to  let  me  stay  near  you  as  long  as  I 
live."  His  voice  was  hoarse  with  pleading.  "Ye're  all 
I  have  in  the  world;  all  I  live  for  now  is  to  make  you 
happy.  Don't  pull  away  now,  when  me  old  heart  has 
grown  all  round  ye.  I  can't  live  and  I  daren't  die 
without  ye — now  that's  the  eternal  truth.  Darlin', 
promise  ye  won't  go — -yet  awhile." 

Wordless,  as  full  of  pain  as  he,  she  sat  silently  weeping, 
unable  to  carry  out  her  resolution — unable  to  express 
the  change  which  had  come  into  her  life. 

252 


SHE,    OVERWHELMED    BY    HIS    GENEROSITY,    COULD    ONLY    NOD 


MONEY    MAGIC 

He  went  on.  "I  mark  the  difference  between  us. 
I  see  ye  goin'  up  while  I  am  goin'  down.  My  heart  is 
big  with  pride  in  ye.  You  belong  with  people  like  the 
Congdons  and  the  Mosses — whilst  I  am  only  an  old 
broken-down  skate.  I'm  worse  than  you  know.  I 
went  down  to  Sibley  first  with  hell  in  me  heart  towards 
you,  but  that  soon  passed  away — I  loved  ye  as  a  man 
should  love  the  girl  he  marries — and  I  love  ye  now  as  I 
love  the  saints.  I  wouldn't  mar  your  young  life  fer 
annything  in  this  world — -'tis  me  wish  to  lave  you  as 
beautiful  and  fresh  as  I  found  you,  and  to  give  you 
all  I  have  besides — so  stay  with  me,  if  you  can,  till  the 
other  man  com.es."  Here  a  new  thought  intruded. 
"Has  he  come  now?  Tell  me  if  he  has.  Did  ye  find 
him  in  Chicago?  Be  honest,  darlinY' 

"No,  no!"  she  answered.  "It  isn't  that.  It's  just 
because — because  it  don't  seem  right." 

"Then  ye  must  stay  with  me,"  he  said,  "and  don't 
worry  about  not  doing  things  for  me.  You  do  things 
for  me  every  minute — just  by  being  in  the  world.  If  I 
can  see  ye  or  hear  ye  I'm  satisfied.  An'  don't  cut  me 
off  from  spending  money  for  ye,  for  that's  half  me  fun. 
How  else  can  I  pay  ye  for  your  help  to  me  ?  I've  been 
troubled  by  your  face  ever  since  we  left  home.  You 
don't  smile  as  ye  used  to  do.  Don't  ye  like  it  here  ?  If 
ye  don't  we'll  go  back.  Shall  we  do  that?" 

She,  overwhelmed  by  his  generosity,  could  only  nod. 

His  face  cleared.  "Very  well,  the  procession  will 
head  west  whenever  you  say  the  word.  I  hope  you 
don't  object  to  the  old  father.  If  ye  do — •" 

"Oh  no;  I  like  him." 

"Then  we'll  take  him;  but,  remember,  I'll  let  no  one 
come  into  our  home  that  will  trouble  you.  I'd  as  soon 
have  a  cinder  in  me  eye  as  a  man  I  don't  like  sitting 

253 


MONEY    MAGIC 

beside  me  fire;  and  if  the  old  man  is  a  burden  to  ye,  out 
he  goes."  He  rose,  and  came  painfully  to  where  she  sat, 
and  in  a  voice  of  humble  sorrow,  slowly  said:  "I  don't 
ask  ye  to  love  me — now — I'm  not  worth  it;  and  once  I 
thought  I'd  like  a  son  to  bear  my  name,  but  'tis  better 
not.  I'll  never  lay  that  burden  upon  ye.  All  I  ask  is 
the  touch  of  yer  hand  now  and  then,  and  your  presence 
when  I  come  to  die — I'm  scared  to  die  alone.  'Twill 
be  a  dark,  long  journey  for  old  Mart,  and  he  wants  your 
face  to  remember  when  he  sets  forth.*' 


CHAPTER  XXII 
THE  SERPENT'S  COIL 

OFTY  as  Jerome  Humiston  talked,  and  poetic  as 
his  face  seemed  to  Bertha  Haney,  he  was  at 
heart  infinitely  more  destructive  than  any  man  she 
had  ever  known ;  for  he  took  a  satanic  delight  in  prov 
ing  that  all  women  were  alike  in  their  frailty.  He 
had  reached  also  that  period  of  decay  wherein  the 
libertine  demands  novelty  —  where  struggle  is  essen 
tial,  and  to  conquer  easily  is  to  fail  of  the  joy  of 
victory. 

He,  too,  had  rushed  to  the  conclusion  that  this  girl 
had  married  an  old  and  broken  gambler  for  his  money, 
and  that  she  was  of  those  to  be  easily  won.  Her  air  of 
demure  reserve  piqued  him — pleased  him.  ' '  She  is  no 
silly  kitten,"  he  mentally  remarked,  after  their  second 
meeting.  "She's  in  for  a  big  career.  With  beauty 
and  youth  and  barrels  of  money  she  will  go  far,  and  I 
will  be  her  guide — unless  I  have  lost  my  cunning. 
She  will  share  her  fortune  with  me  some  day,  and  I  will 
teach  her  to  live." 

He  met  her  at  the  door  of  his  studio  next  day  with  a 
grave  and  tender  smile.  "I'm  glad  you've  come,"  he 
said,  "but  I'll  have  to  confess  that  I  have  very  little 
to  show  you  here.  My  pictures  are  all  down  at  the 
gallery,  and  some  of  them  not  yet  hung.  Next  week 
they  will  all  be  in  place.  But  sit  down  while  I  boil 

255 


MONEY    MAGIC 

some  tea.     My  friends  who  own  this  workshop  are  out ; 
they'll  be  in  soon." 

"I  don't  believe  I  can  stay  to-day.  The  Captain  is 
below." 

"Please  do  sit  down  for  a  moment.  I'll  be  hurt  if 
you  don't." 

The  studio  was  a  big  bare  barn  of  a  place  with  a  few 
broad  canvases  upon  the  walls — not  a  bit  like  Humis- 
ton;  and  he  explained  that  his  stay  in  America  being 
short,  he  could  not  afford  to  have  a  studio  of  his  own. 
"I'm  glad  you  came.  You  must  let  me  take  you  to  see 
my  'show'  next  week.  Your  fresh,  young,  Western 
eyes  are  just  what  I  need."  This  was  false,  for  he  was 
n1^>f  all  criticism.  "I  need  comfort,"  he  added, 
rily  sftlljj|^  "I  didn't  sell  enough  in  the  West  to 
pay  my  railway  fa#e." 

He  seemed  ill  as  well  as  sad,  and  Bertha  felt  sorry  for 
him.  "Won't  you  come  with  us  for  a  ride?" 

"I'd  rather  have  you  ?tay  and  talk  with  me." 

"  Oh,  I  can't  do  that !  /The  Captain  is  waiting  for  me. 
He  said  to  bring  you."' 

"But  I  don't  want  to  go.  I  hate  automobiles.  I 
hate  seeing  sights  I  despise  this  town.  I've  a  grouch 
against  everything  in  America — except  you.  Let  me 
go  down  and  tell  the  Captain  to  take  his  spin  alone." 

"No,  no,"  she  sharply  said.  "I  keep  my  word.  I 
said  I'd  be  back  in  a  few  minutes,  and  I'm  going." 

He  sighed  resignedly.  "Very  well ;  but  you'll  let  me 
come  to  see  you?" 

"Why,  cert!  Come  to  dinner  any  day.  We  don't 
browse  around  much  outside  the  hotel.  We're  mostly 
always  feeding  at  six." 

"I'll  come,  and  you  must  not  fail  to  let  me  show  you 
my  pictures." 

256 


MONEY    MAGIC 

' '  Sure  thing !  I  want  to  buy  one  to  take  home  with 
me." 

He  assumed  great  candor.  "I  won't  say  that  your 
ability  to  buy  one  of  my  pictures  is  not  of  interest  to 
me,  for  it  is;  but  quite  aside  from  that,  there  is  some 
thing  in  you  that  appeals  to  me.  You  make  me  think 
better  of  the  West — of  America.  I  feel  that  you  will 
find  something  in  my  pictures  which  the  critics  miss." 
Then,  with  mournful  abruptness,  he  added:  "No  doubt 
Joe  told  you  of  my  unhappy  marriage — " 

"No,  he  didn't." 

"My  wife  cares  nothing  for  my  work.  She  takes  no 
interest  in  anything  but  the  frippery  side  of  life.  That's 
what  appeals  to  me  in  you — you  are  so  aspiring.  I 
feel  that  you  have  such  wonderful  possibilities.  You 
would  spur  a  man  to  big  things." 

They  were  both  standing  as  if  he  had  forgotten  where 
he  was,  and  she,  embarrassed  but  fascinated  by  his 
words,  and  especially  held  by  his  voice,  dared  not  make 
a  motion  till  he  released  her.  He  looked  round  him. 
"I  don't  wonder  you  dislike  this  room;  it's  horribly 
cold  and  depressing  to  me.  I  can't  work  here.  I  wish 
you  could  see  my  den  in  Paris.  Perhaps  you  will  let 
me  show  it  to  you  some  day.  All  my  happiest  days 
have  been  spent  in  France.  I  am  more  French  than 
American  now." 

He  took  her  hand  again,  and  with  a  return  to  his 
studiedly  cheerful  manner  called  her  to  witness  that 
she  had  promised  to  come  to  see  his  paintings.  "And 
please  remember  that  I  am  going  to  take  you  at  your 
word  and  dine  with  you — perhaps  this  very  night." 

"All  right,  come  along,"  she  replied,  and  went  away 
filled  with  wonder  at  the  familiar,  almost  humble  atti 
tude  he  had  assumed  towards  her. 

257 


MONEY    MAGIC 

He  did  indeed  dine  with  them  that  night,  and  quite 
won  the  Captain  to  a  belief  in  him.  "Come  again,"  he 
heartily  said.  And  the  great  artist  feelingly  answered: 
"I  mean  to,  for,  strange  to  say,  I  am  almost  as  lonesome 
in  this  big  town  as  anybody  could  be."  This  was  a  lie, 
but  Haney's  sympathy  was  roused.  "There'll  always 
be  an  empty  chair  for  you,"  he  repeated,  with  a  feeling 
that  he,  too,  was  encouraging  art. 

Humiston  pursued  this  game  with  singular  and  joy 
ous  skill.  He  talked  of  the  West  and  of  politics  with 
the  Captain,  and  of  love  and  art  and  his  essentially 
lonely  life  to  Bertha.  He  returned  often  to  the  wish 
that  they  might  meet  in  Paris.  ' '  A  trip  abroad  would 
do  you  infinite  good,"  he  insisted.  "What  you  need  is 
three  years  of  life  in  Paris.  With  your  beauty  and 
money,  and,  above  all,  with  your  personal  magnetism, 
you  could  reign  like  a  queen.  I  wonder  that  you  don't 
go.  It  would  be  worth  more  to  you  than  any  other 
possible  schooling.  I  don't  know  of  anything  in  this 
world  that  would  give  me  greater  pleasure  than  to  show 
you  Paris." 

Bertha's  silence  in  face  of  these  approaches  deceived 
him.  The  throbbing  of  her  bosom,  the  fall  of  her  eye 
lashes,  were  due  to  instinctive  distrust  of  him.  That 
he  was  more  dangerous  than  the  rough  miners  and  cow 
boys  of  the  West  she  could  not  believe,  and  yet  she  drew 
back  in  growing  fear  of  one  who  openly  claimed  the 
right  to  plow  athwart  all  the  barriers  of  law  and  custom. 
His  mind's  flight  was  like  that  of  the  eagle — now  rising 
to  the  sun  in  exultation,  now  falling  to  the  gray  sea 
to  slay.  At  times  she  felt  a  kind  of  gratitude  that  he 
should  be  willing  to  sit  beside  her  and  talk  —  he,  so 
skilled,  so  learned,  so  famous. 

The  Chicago  papers  were  still  filled  with  criticism  of 


MONEY    MAGIC 

his  work  and  his  theories,  and  this  discussion,  as  well 
as  the  appearance  of  his  portrait  in  the  magazines, 
had  made  of  him  a  very  exalted  person  in  little  Mrs. 
Haney's  eyes,  and  the  interest  he  took  in  her  was  too 
subtly  nattering  not  to  affect  her.  He  seemed  fond  of 
the  Captain,  too,  and  often  joined  them  in  their  trips 
about  the  city,  and  the  fellows  who  had  known  Humiston 
in  Paris  and  who  did  not  know  Bertha  nodded  knowing 
ly.  "Jerry's  amusing  himself,  as  usual.  I  wonder  who 
she  is?" 

He  explained  his  poverty  one  day  as  he  sat  with 
her  in  the  little  gallery  where  his  paintings  were  hung. 
"The  fact  is,  while  other  men  have  been  painting  to 
order  and  doing  'stunts'  for  the  Salon,  I've  gone  on 
refining,  seeking  new  shades,  new  allurements,  subor 
dinating  line  to  color,  story  to  harmony,  till  my  work 
is  sublimated  beyond  my  public.  The  people  that 
bought  my  things  once  can't  follow  me ;  it  is  only  now 
and  then  that  a  man,  or  a  woman  feels  what  I'm  after 
— and  so  I  live.  I  hold  all  things  beautiful  to  paint, 
America  does  not." 

He  liked  her  all  the  better  because  she  did  not  try  to 
say  what  she  thought  of  his  pictures,  and  when  she  in 
sisted  on  taking  one  of  them  home  he  quickly  stopped 
her.  "I'm  not  asking  you  to  take  pity  on  me,"  he 
sharply  said.  And  in  this  lay  the  subtlest  touch  of 
flattery  he  had  yet  used:  the  idea  that  she,  an  ignorant 
mountain  girl,  could  be  accused  of  patronizing  a  man 
so  distinguished,  so  gifted  as  he,  moved  her  in  spite  of 
all  warnings.  Why  should  she  not  use  her  money  to 
help  this  wonderful  artist  ? 

She  insisted  on  a  picture,  and  asked  him  to  select  one 
for  her.  "I've  got  a  big  house  out  in  the  Springs,  and 
I'd  like  something  of  yours." 

259 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"Not  out  of  this  collection,"  he  declared.  "These 
are  not  the  ones  on  which  my  fame  rests.  The  ones 
that  represent  me  are  in  the  cellar." 

Her  eyes  were  wide  in  question.  "What  do  you 
mean  by  that?" 

"American  dealers  won't  include  my  best  things  in 
the  exhibit — they  are  too  'direct.'  They  are  stored 
over  here  in  a  warehouse.  I'd  like  to  show  them  to 
you.  Will  you  come?"  he  asked,  with  eager  eyes. 

And  she,  with  a  sense  of  being  distinguished  above 
the  great  public,  consented.  Humiston  rose  animated 
ly.  "Let's  go  over  and  see  them  now." 

His  gentle  camaraderie,  his  eagerness,  touched  Bertha, 
and  when  he  took  her  arm  to  help  her  into  the  elevator 
or  to  make  sure  she  did  not  stumble  at  the  crossing  she 
was  stirred — not  as  Ben's  hand  had  moved  her,  but  her 
blood  nevertheless  palpably  quickened.  Was  it  not  won 
derful  that  she,  so  lately  from  the  mountains,  should  be 
walking  here  in  the  midst  of  the  thronging  multitudes 
of  a  great  city  street  in  the  company  of  one  of  the  chief 
artists  of  the  world  ? 

Humiston,  crafty,  cruel,  unscrupulous,  returned  to 
his  abuse  of  the  city,  and  explained  to  her  that  Ameri 
can  dealers  had  no  real  appreciation  of  art.  "They  sell 
anything  that  will  sell,  any  cheap  daub,  and  yet  they 
dared  to  refuse  to  exhibit  my  best  things!  It  was  the 
same  in  Pittsburg  and  Buffalo;  they're  all  alike.  But 
what  can  you  expect  of  these  densely  material  towns  ? 
Beauty  means  only  prettiness  to  them. 

The  salesman  of  the  shop,  accustomed  to  seeing 
Humiston  pass  in  and  out  with  friends,  paid  no  special 
heed  to  the  painter  as  he  led  Bertha  into  the  farther 
room,  where  a  few  of  his  pictures  hung  among  a  dozen 
others.  No  one  was  in  the  gallery,  and  just  as  she 

260 


MONEY    MAGIC 

was  wondering  where  the  other  paintings  could  be,  he 
opened  a  door  (which  was  cut  out  of  the  wall  and  partly 
concealed  by  paintings),  and  smilingly  said:  "Here  is 
the  inner  temple.  Enter.'' 

She  obeyed  with  a  little  hesitation,  for  the  store 
room  was  not  well  lighted,  and  she  had  a  wild  bird's 
distrust  of  dark,  enclosing  walls. 

Humiston  shut  the  door  behind  him  and  followed 
her,  plaintively  saying:  "Isn't  it  hard  lines  to  have 
to  bring  my  friends  into  this  hole  to  show  my  master 
pieces  ?"  And  by  this  she  inferred  that  there  was  noth 
ing  unusual  in  the  experience. 

It  was  a  long,  bare  hall,  filled  with  boxes  and  lit 
tered  with  bits  of  excelsior,  and  Bertha  looked  about 
her  uneasily  while  Humiston  bent  over  some  canvases 
stacked  on  the  floor.  He  seemed  to  be  selecting  one 
with  care.  An  electric  lamp  was  swinging  from  the 
ceiling,  and  under  it  stood  a  large  easel,  and  on  this 
he  placed  a  canvas,  and,  stepping  back  with  eyes  fixed 
on  her,  said  with  spirit:  "This  is  one  of  my  best.  It 
was  in  the  new  Salon — here  is  the  number.  And  yet 
it  may  not  be  exhibited  in  this  rotten  town." 

Bertha  inwardly  recoiled  from  the  canvas,  for  it  was 
a  painting  of  a  nude  figure  of  a  girl  at  the  bath.  The 
critics  had  said,  "It  is  naked,  rather  than  nude,"  and 
the  dealers  objected  to  it  on  this  ground,  and  to  the 
Western  girl  it  was  both  shocking  and  ugly.  Before 
she  had  caught  her  breath  he  continued,  in  a  tone  that 
was  at  once  a  seduction  and  a  defence:  "There  is  noth 
ing  more  beautiful  in  the  world  than  the  female  form; 
it  is  the  flower  of  flowers.  Why  should  it  not  be  paint 
ed?"  And  then,  while  still  he  argued  for  the  return 
of  the  Greek's  love  of  beauty,  covering  his  moral  de 
pravity  with  the  mantle  of  the  philosopher,  he  placed 

261 


MONEY    MAGIC 

another  canvas  before  her — something  so  unrefined,  so 
animal,  so  destructive  of  womanly  modesty  and  of  all 
reserve,  that  any  one  looking  upon  it  would  instantly 
know  that  the  man  who  had  painted  it  was  a  degenerate 
demon — an  associate  of  dissolute  models,  an  anarchist 
in  the  world  of  women.  It  was  fit  only  for  the  banquet- 
halls  of  the  damned. 

Bertha  stared  at  it — fascinated  by  the  sense  of  the 
tempter's  nearness.  It  was  as  if  a  satyr  had  suddenly 
revealed  his  lawless  soul  to  her.  Her  thinking  for  an 
instant  chained  her  feet,  and  her  silence  emboldened 
him. 

Even  as  she  turned  to  flee  she  felt  his  arm  about  her 
waist,  his  breath  upon  her  cheek.  "  Don't  go!"  he  plead 
ed,  and  in  his  eyes  was  the  same  look  she  had  seen  in 
the  face  of  Charles  Haney.  At  last  he  stood  revealed. 
His  artist  soul  could  stoop  as  low  in  purpose  as  a  drunk 
en  tramp.  Beating  him  off  with  her  strong  hands, 
she  ran  down  the  hall  and  burst  into  the  brilliantly 
lighted  exhibition  room  such  a  picture  of  affrighted, 
outraged  girlhood  that  the  salesman  stared  upon  her 
in  wonder.  His  look  of  surprise  warned  Bertha  of  her 
danger.  Composing  herself  by  tremendous  effort  of 
the  will,  she  closed  the  door  and  walked  slowly  out  into 
the  street,  her  brain  in  a  tumult  of  anger  and  shame. 

It  seemed  at  the  moment  as  if  every  man  she  had 
ever  known  was  a  brute-demon  seeking  to  destroy  her. 
She  understood  now  the  reason  for  the  great  painter's 
flattering  deference  to  her  opinion.  From  the  first  he 
had  sought  to  blind  her.  His  ways  were  subtler  than 
those  of  Charles  Haney  and  his  like,  but  his  soul  was 
no  higher;  it  was  indeed  more  ignoble,  for  he  was  of 
those  who  claim  to  dispense  learning  and  light.  Pre 
tending  to  add  beauty  to  the  world,  he  was  ready  to 

262 


MONEY    MAGIC 

feed  himself  at  the  cost  of  a  woman's  soul.  She  re 
called  Mrs.  Moss'  hints  about  his  life  in  Paris,  and 
understood  at  last  that  he  had  wilfully  misread  her 
homage  and  trust.  A  realization  of  this  perfidy  filled 
her  with  a  fury  of  hate  and  disgust.  Was  Ben  Fordyce 
like  all  the  rest  ?  Did  his  candor,  his  sweetness  of  smile, 
but  veil  another  mode  of  approach?  Was  his  kiss  as 
vile  in  its  disloyalty,  his  embrace  as  remorseless  in  its 
design  ? 

She  walked  back  along  the  shining  avenue  to  her  hotel 
with  drooping  head.  She  knew  the  worst  of  Humis- 
ton  now.  She  burned  with  helpless  wrath  as  she  dwelt 
upon  his  assumptions  of  superiority.  She  hated  the 
whole  glittering,  unresting,  lavish  city  at  the  moment, 
and  her  soul  longed  for  the  silence  of  the  peaks  to  the 
west.  She  turned  to  her  husband  as  one  who  seeks  a 
tower  of  refuge  in  time  of  war. 

18 


CHAPTER  XXIII 
BERTHA'S  FLIGHT 

BEFORE  she  had  fairly  recovered  her  poise  next 
day  Lucius  brought  to  her  a  letter  from  Humiston 
— a  suave,  impudent  note  wherein  he  expressed  the  hope 
that  she  was  well,  and  went  on  to  plead  in  veiled  phrase: 
"I'm  sorry  you  did  not  stay  to  see  the  rest  of  my 
pictures.  I  meant  it  all  as  a  compliment  to  your 
innate  good  taste  and  purity  of  thought.  I  expected 
you  to  see  them  as  I  painted  them — in  pure  artistic 
delight.  You  misunderstood  me.  I  hope  you  will  let 
me  see  you  again.  You  must  remember  you  promised 
to  let  me  make  a  portrait  sketch  of  you." 

Although  not  skilled  in  polite  duplicity,  Bertha  was 
able  to  read  beneath  the  serene  insolence  of  these  lines 
something  so  diabolically  relentless  that  she  turned 
cold  with  fear  and  repulsion.  She  had  no  experience 
which  fitted  her  to  deal  with  such  a  pursuer,  and  she 
shuddered  at  the  rustling  of  the  paper  in  her  hand  as 
she  had  once  quivered  in  breathless  terror  of  a  rattle 
snake  stirring  in  the  leaves  near  the  door  of  her  tent. 
Her  first  impulse  was  to  lay  the  whole  affair  before  the 
Captain,  but  the  knowledge  of  his  deadly  temper  when 
roused  decided  her  to  slip  out  at  the  other  side  of  this 
fearsome  thicket  and  leave  the  serpent  in  possession. 
She  longed  to  return  to  the  West.  The  little  group  of 
people  in  the  Springs  allured  her;  they  were  to  be 

264 


MONEY    MAGIC 

trusted.  Congdon  and  Crego  and  Ben — these  men  she 
knew  and  respected.  Her  joy  of  the  big  outside  Eastern 
world  had  begun  to  pass,  and  she  dreaded  to  en 
counter  again  the  bold  eyes  and  coarse  compliments  of 
the  men  who  loaf  about  the  hotels  and  clubs. 

She  turned  to  Haney  as  he  came  into  her  room,  and 
said:  "Mart,  I  want  to  go  home— to-day." 

"All  right,  Bertie,  I'm  ready — or  will  be,  as  soon  as 
I  pick  up  the  old  father.  But  don't  you  want  to  see 
that  show  we've  got  tickets  for?" 

"No,  I've  had  enough  of  this  old  town.  I'm  crazy 
to  go  home.5' 

"Home  it  is,  then."  He  called  sharply;  "Lucius!" 
The  man  appeared,  impassive,  noiseless,  unhurried. 
The  Captain  issued  his  orders:  "Thrun  me  garbage 
into  a  thrunk,  and  call  some  one  to  help  the  missus; 
we're  goin'  to  hit  the  sunset  trail  to-night.  'Phone  me 
old  dad  besides,  and  have  him  come  over  at  wanst. 
Here  we  emigrate  westward  by  the  next  express." 

The  man  quietly  took  control  of  the  situation,  and  in 
a  few  moments  the  Captain's  commands  were  being 
carried  out  with  the  precision  of  a  military  camp. 

Bertha,  alarmed  by  Humiston's  letter,  refused  to  go 
down  to  the  public  dining-room.  A  fear  that  she  might 
encounter  the  painter  possessed  her,  and  the  thought  of 
him  was  at  once  a  shame  and  torment;  therefore,  she 
had  her  luncheon  sent  up,  and  Lucius  himself  found 
time  to  wait  upon  them. 

As  they  were  in  the  midst  of  their  meal,  Haney  re 
marked  rather  than  asked:  "Of  course,  you're  going 
back  with  us,  Lucius." 

"I  have  thought  of  it,  sir,  but  it  isn't  in  our  con 
tract." 

"We  can  put  it  in,"  said  Bertha, 
265 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"We  can't  do  without  you  now,"  added  Mart. 

Lucius  seemed  pleased.  "Thank  you  for  that,  Cap 
tain.  I  don't  particularly  care  for  the  West,  but  I  find 
service  with  you  agreeable." 

Haney  chuckled.  "Service,  do  ye  call  it?  Sure, 
man,  'tis  you  are  in  command.  I'm  but  a  high  private 
in  the  rear  rank." 

Lucius's  yellow  face  flushed  and  his  eyes  wavered. 
"I  hope  I  haven't  assumed — " 

"Assumed!  No, 'tis  we  who  are  obligated.  We  need 
you  as  bad  as  a  plainsman  needs  a  guide  in  the  green 
timber;  and  if  you  don't  mind  a  steady  job  of  looking 
after  us  social  tenderfeet,  I'm  willing  to  make  it  right 
with  you — and  Mrs.  Haney  feels  just  the  way  I  do." 

"Sure,  Mart — only  trouble  with  Lucius  is,  he  leaves 
so  little  for  me  to  do.  He's  too  handy— if  anything." 

"That  '11  wear  off,"  replied  Haney.  "Well,  then,  it's 
all  settled  but  the  price,  and  I  reckon  we  can  fix  that. 
If  I  can't  pay  cash,  I'll  let  you  in  on  the  mine." 

Lucius  smiled.  "Thank  you,  Captain;  it's  not  en 
tirely  a  question  of  pay  with  me;  my  wants  are  few." 

Bertha  seized  the  moment  to  put  a  question  she  had 
been  minded  many  times  to  ask.  "Lucius,  what's 
your  plan  ?  You  can't  intend  to  do  this  all  your  life  ? 
Tell  us  your  ambition — maybe  we  can  help  you." 

He  looked  away,  and  a  deeper  shadow  fell  over  his 
face.  "I  had  ambitions  once,  Mrs.  Haney,  but  my 
color  was  against  me.  Yes,  I  think  I'll  stay  as  I  am. 
There  is  a  certain  security  in  being  valet.  You  white 
people  know  exactly  where  to  find  me,  and  I  know  just 
how  to  meet  you.  In  my  profession  it  was  different — • 
I  was  always  being  cursed  for  presumption." 

"What  was  your  profession?"  asked  Haney. 

"I  studied  law  — and  practised  for  a  year  or  two 
266 


MONEY    MAGIC 

in  Washington;  but  I  didn't  like  my  position;  I  was 
neither  white  nor  colored,  so  when  I  got  a  good  chance 
I  went  out  to  service  with  a  senator  as  body-servant." 
He  stopped  abruptly  as  though  that  were  all  of  his 
tale. 

Haney  said:  "Well,  if  you  can  put  up  with  an  igno 
rant  old  hill-climber  like  meself ,  I'll  be  grateful,  and  I'll 
try  not  rub  your  fur  the  wrong  way." 

Lucius  became  very  earnest  for  the  first  time.  ' '  There, 
sir,  is  one  point  upon  which  I  must  insist.  If  I  go  with 
you,  you  are  to  treat  me  just  as  you  have  been  doing — • 
as  a  trusted  servant.  I'm  sorry  I  told  you  anything 
about  myself.  My  service  thus  far  has  been  very  pleas 
ant,  very  satisfactory,  and  unless  we  can  go  on  in  the 
same  way,  I  must  leave." 

' '  Very  well , ' '  replied  Haney.  "  It 's  all  settled — you're 
adjutant-general  of  the  Haneys'  forces." 

After  Lucius  went  away  Bertha  said,  thoughtfully:  "I 
wish  he  hadn't  told  us  that;  I  can't  order  him  around 
the  way  I've  been  doing." 

Haney  smiled.  ' '  Did  ye  order  him  around  ?  I  niver 
chanced  to  hear  ye  do  annything  but  ask  him  questions- 
'  Lucius,  will  ye  do  this  ?'  '  Lucius,  won't  ye  do  that  ?' " 

Bertha  was  troubled,  and  found  herself  embarrassed 
by  the  mulatto's  services.  She  now  perceived  sadness 
beneath  the  quiet  lines  of  his  face  and  hard- won  culture 
in  the  tones  of  his  voice.  The  essential  tragedy  of  his 
defeat  grew  more  poignant  to  her  as  she  watched  him 
getting  the  trunks  strapped,  surrounded  by  maids  and 
porters.  How  could  she  have  misread  his  manner  ?  He 
was  performing  his  duties,  not  with  quiet  gusto,  but  in 
the  spirit  of  the  trained  nurse. 

This  mountain  girl  had  always  regarded  Illinois  as 
"the  East,"  but  after  a  few  weeks  in  New  York  City 

267 


MONEY    MAGIC 

she  now  looked  away  to  Chicago  as  a  Western  town. 
She  was  glad  to  face  the  sunset  sky  again,  and  yet  as  she 
wheeled  away  to  the  train  she  acknowledged  a  regret. 
Under  the  skilful  guidance  of  Lucius  she  had  seen  a 
great  deal  of  the  splendid  and  furious  Manhattan.  She 
had  gazed  with  unenvious  admiration  on  the  palaces 
of  upper  Fifth  Avenue  and  the  Park.  Together  with 
Haney  she  had  spun  up  Riverside  Drive,  past  Grant's 
Tomb,  and  on  through  Washington  Heights,  with  joy 
of  the  far-spreading  panorama.  She  had  visited  the 
Battery  and  sailed  the  shining  way  to  Staten  Island 
in  silent  awe  of  the  ship  -  filled  bay.  She  had  heard 
the  sunset-guns  thunder  at  Fort  Hamilton,  and  had 
threaded  the  mazes  of  the  Brooklyn  Navy- Yard,  and 
each  day  the  mast-hemmed  island  widened  in  grandeur 
and  thickened  with  threads  of  human  purpose,  making 
the  America  she  knew  very  simple,  very  quiet,  and  very 
remote. 

Night  by  night  she  had  gone  to  the  music-halls  and 
theatres,  and  her  mind  had  been  powerfully  wrought 
upon  by  what  she  had  seen  and  heard.  In  all  these 
trips  Haney  had  heroically  accompanied  his  wife, 
though  he  frequently  dropped  asleep  in  his  seat;  and 
he,  too,  left  the  city  with  regret,  though  he  said,  "Thank 
God,  I'm  out  of  it,"  as  they  settled  into  their  seats 
in  the  ferry.  "Tis  not  the  night  traffic  that  wears 
me  down  —  I'm  used  to  being  on  the  night  shift;  'tis 
the  wild  pace  Lucius  sets  by  day.  Faith,  'twas  the 
aquarium  in  the  morning  and  the  circus  in  the  after 
noon.  Me  dreams  have  been  wan  long  procession  of 
misbegotten  fish,  ballet-dancers,  dirty  monkeys,  and  big 
elephants  the  nights.  'Tis  a  great  city,  but  I  am  ready 
to  return  to  me  peaceful  perch  above  the  faro-board; 
I  think  'twould  rest  me  soul  to  see  a  game  of  craps." 

268 


MONEY    MAGIC 

''Why  didn't  you  order  Lucius  to  let  up  on  the  sight 
seeing  business?"  Bertha  said. 

"And  expose  me  weak  knees  to  me  nigger?  No,  no, 
Mike." 

"I  wanted  you  to  let  me  rummage  about  alone." 

"You  did.  But  I  could  not  allow  that,  neyther.  So 
long  as  I  can  sit  the  road-cart  or  run  me  arms  into  a 
biled  shirt  I'll  stay  by,  darlin'.  Tis  not  safe  for  you 
to  go  about  alone  in  the  hell-broth  of  these  Eastern 
streets.  Besides,  while  I'm  losin'  weight  I'm  lighter  on 
me  feet  than  when  I  came.  I've  enjoyed  me  trip,  but 
it  does  seem  sinful  to  think  of  our  big  house  standing 
empty  and  the  horses  '  stockin' '  in  their  stalls,  and  I'm 
glad  we're  edgin'  along  homeward." 

"So  am  I,"  Bertha  heartily  agreed,  even  as  she 
looked  lovingly  back  upon  the  mighty  walls  and  towers 
which  filled  the  sky  behind  her.  It  was  a  gloriously 
exciting  place  to  live  in,  after  all.  "Some  day  I  may 
come  back,"  she  promised  herself,  but  the  thought  of 
Humiston  lurking  like  a  wolf  in  the  shadow  came  to 
make  her  going  more  and  more  like  an  escape. 

The  elder  Haney  amused  her  by  his  frank  comment 
on  everything  that  was  strange  to  him.  His  new 
teeth,  which  did  not  fit  him  very  securely,  troubled 
him  greatly,  and  he  spoke  with  one  hand  held  alertly, 
ready  to  catch  them  if  they  fell,  but  his  smile  was  a 
radiant  grin,  and  his  shrewd  old  face  was  good  to  look 
at  as  he  faced  the  splendors  of  the  limited  express. 

"  'Tis  foine  as  a  bar-room,"  said  he.  "To  be  whisked 
about  over  the  world  like  this  is  no  hairdship.  Bedad, 
if  I'd  known  how  aisy  it  was  I'd  a  visited  McArdle 
befoore."  He  pretended  to  believe  that  everybody 
travelled  this  way,  and  that  Mart  was  merely  doing  the 
ordinary  in  the  matter  of  meals  and  state-room;  and  as 

269 


MONEY    MAGIC 

he  wandered  from  end  to  end  of  the  train  and  found 
only  luxurious  coaches,  and  people  taking  their  ease, 
he  had  all  the  best  of  the  argument.  Lucius  he  re 
garded  as  a  man  of  his  own  level,  and  they  held  long 
confabulations  together  —  the  colored  man  accepting 
this  comradeship  in  the  spirit  of  democracy  in  which  it 
was  given.  Mart,  for  his  part,  sat  looking  out  of  the 
window,  dreaming  of  the  past. 

As  she  neared  Chicago  next  day  Bertha  thought  with 
pleasure  of  seeing  the  Mosses  again.  Now  that  Humis- 
ton  was  eliminated,  she  had  only  the  pleasantest  mem 
ories  of  the  people  she  had  met  in  the  smoky  city.  It 
was  as  if  in  a  dark  forest  of  lofty  trees  she  had  found 
a  pleasant  mead  on  which  the  warm  sunlight  fell. 
The  mellow  charm  of  the  studios  was  made  all  the 
more  appealing  by  reason  of  the  drab  and  desolate 
waste  through  which  she  was  forced  to  pass  to  attain 
the  light  and  laughter  of  those  high  places. 

Chicago  had  grown  more  gloomily  impressive,  and 
at  the  same  time — by  reason  of  her  knowledge  of  the 
larger  plans  and  mightier  enterprises  of  New  York — it 
seemed  simpler,  and  Bertha  re-entered  the  hotel  which 
had  once  dazzled  her  in  confidence,  rinding  it  cheerful 
and  familiar.  She  liked  it  all  the  better  because  it  was 
less  pretentious.  It  gave  her  a  pleasant  sense  of  getting 
back  home  to  have  the  men  in  buttons  smile  and  say, 
''Glad  to  see  you,  Mrs.  Haney."  The  head  clerk  was 
very  cordial ;  he  even  found  time  to  come  out  and  shake 
hands.  "  I  can't  give  you  precisely  your  old  quarters," 
he  said,  "but  I  can  fix  you  out  on  the  next  floor.  I'm 
sure  you'll  be  very  comfortable."  Thereupon  she  took 
up  her  quietly  luxurious  life  at  the  point  where  she  had 
dropped  it  some  weeks  before. 

There  lay  in  this  Western  girl  a  strongly  marked  ten- 
270 


MONEY    MAGIC 

dency  towards  the  culture  and  refinement  of  the  East ; 
and,  though  she  had  grown  up  far  from  anything  aes 
thetic  in  home-life,  she  instinctively  knew  and  loved 
the  beautiful  in  nature,  the  right  thing  in  art ;  and  now 
that  she  was  about  to  leave  the  East  for  the  West — 
perhaps  to  abandon  the  town  for  the  village — she  found 
herself  aching  with  a  hunger  which  had  hitherto  been 
unconscious.  She  was  torn  with  desire  to  go  and  a 
longing  to  stay.  New  York,  Paris,  the  world,  was  open 
before  her  if  only  she  were  content  to  take  Marshall 
Haney's  money  and  use  it  to  these  ends. 

That  night  as  she  lay  in  her  bed  hearing  the  rum 
ble  and  jar  of  the  city's  traffic,  her  mind  recalled  and 
dwelt  upon  the  wonderful  scenes,  especially  the  beauti 
ful  pictures  which  her  eyes  had  gleaned  from  the  East. 
The  magical,  glittering  spread  of  Manhattan  harbor,  the 
silver  sweep  of  the  Hudson  at  West  Point,  the  mighty 
panorama  from  Grant's  Tomb,  the  silken  sheen  of  Fifth 
Avenue  on  a  rainy  night,  the  crash  and  glitter  of  up 
per  Broadway,  the  splendid  halls  of  art,  literature,  and 
especially  of  music  and  the  drama — all  these  came  back 
one  by  one  to  claim  a  place  beside  her  peaks  and  canons, 
sharing  the  glory  of  the  purple  deeps  and  the  snowy 
heights  of  the  mountains  she  had  hitherto  loved  so 
single-heartedly  and  so  well. 

She  saw  Sibley  now  for  what  it  was — a  village  almost 
barren  of  beauty — a  good,  kindly,  homey  place,  but  so 
little  and  so  dull!  To  go  back  there  to  live  was  quite 
impossible.  "If  I  quit  Mart  I  must  find  something  to 
do  here — in  the  East.  I  can't  stand  Sibley." 

She  longed  for  the  Springs  because  of  her  home  there 
and  because  of  Ben — but  she  realized  that  it  possessed, 
after  all,  but  very  limited  opportunities  for  the  pur 
chase  of  culture.  The  great  centres  had  begun  to  ex- 

271 


MONEY    MAGIC 

ercise  dominion  over  her.  She  had  ever  been  a  lonely 
little  soul,  with  no  confidante  of  her  own  sex.  Speech 
had  never  been  fluent  with  her,  and  she  was  still 
elliptical,  curt,  and  in  a  sense  inexpressive.  She  had 
no  chatter,  and  the  ways  of  women  were  in  many 
directions  alien  to  her.  Miss  Franklin  had  been  her 
teacher,  and  yet,  while  respecting  her,  she  had  never 
learned  to  love  her.  Next  to  Ben  Fordyce  she  leaned 
upon  the  judgment  and  sympathy  of  the  sculptor, 
whose  fine  eyes  were  aglow  with  a  high  purpose.  She 
was  certain  that  he  was  both  good  and  wise. 

Mart  was  much  amused  at  his  father,  who  refused 
to  sleep  a  second  night  at  the  hotel.  "It's  too  far 
from  the  street,"  said  he.  "I  think  I'll  go  stay  with 
Fan  if  ye'll  lay  out  the  course  that  leads  to  her  dure." 
So  Lucius  went  with  him,  bearing  a  message  from 
Haney:  "Tell  Fan  I'll  be  over  to  see  her  to-morrow. 
I'm  too  tired  to  go  to-day,"  and  the  father  hurried 
away  in  joyous  relief. 

'  'Tis  unnatural  to  see  a  son  of  mine  in  such  Baby 
lonish  splendor,"  he  confided  to  Lucius.  "Faith,  it 
gives  me  a  turn  every  time  I  see  him  unwind  a  bill  from 
that  big  wad  he  carries  in  his  pocket.  'Tis  like  palin' 
a  red  onion  to  him — nothing  more." 

The  Captain  was  up  early  next  day,  and  eager  to  see 
how  his  sister  was  getting  along  in  her  new  house,  and 
to  please  him  Bertha  went  with  him.  The  transposi 
tion  of  the  McArdles,  like  most  charitable  enterprises, 
had  not  been  entirely  a  success.  The  children  had 
blubbered  at  being  torn  away  from  their  playmates 
and  the  alleys  and  runways  which  they  infested.  They 
were  like  lusty  rats  suddenly  let  loose  in  a  fine  new  barn 
with  no  dark  corners,  no  burrows,  no  rotten  planks, 
chips,  or  coal-heaps  to  dig  into  or  hide  beneath.  The 

272 


MONEY    MAGIC 

alleys  in  Glenwood  were  leafy  lanes,  the  streets  parked 
and  concreted,  and  the  school-yard  unnaturally  clean 
and  shaded  by  fine  young  trees — which  no  one  was 
allowed  to  climb. 

Furthermore,  there  was  work  to  do  in  the  garden — • 
and  this  was  onerous  to  the  boys.  Then,  too,  they  had 
to  fight  their  battles  all  over  again.  However,  they 
did  this  with  pleasure,  establishing  dreadful  reputa 
tions  among  the  neat,  knickerbocker  "sissies"  who 
were  foolish  enough  to  cross  them.  Dress,  Mrs.  Mc- 
Ardle  declared,  was  now  a  real  trial.  The  girls  had 
to  be  "in  trim  all  the  time,"  and  the  boys  were  as 
violently  in  contrast  to  their  fellows  as  a  litter  of 
brindle  barn-kits  beside  a  well-groomed  tabby-cat's 
family.  "I'm  clean  worn  out  with  it,  Mart,"  she  con 
fessed.  "We've  been  here  two  weeks  the  day,  and  the 
children  howlin'  the  whole  time  to  go  back  and  McArdle 
workin'  himself  to  the  figger  of  a  spoon  with  a  mind  to 
polish  the  lawn  and  get  the  garden  into  seed." 

But  Mart  only  smiled.      "Tis  good  discipline,  Fan." 

Haney  senior  was  delighted  with  his  daughter's 
household.  "Faith,  the  roar  and  tumble  of  the  whelps 
brings  back  to  me  me  own  wife  and  childer.  Them  was 
good  days.  'Twas  hard  skirmishin'  some  weeks  for  ba 
con  and  p'taties,  but  I  got  'em  someway,  and  you  ate 
ivery  flick  of  it — snappin'  and  snarlin',  but  happy  as  a 
box  of  pups." 

His  son  and  daughter  looked  at  each  other  and 
laughed;  then  Mart  said:  "'Tis  a  sad  memory  the 
father  has,  a  most  inconvenient  and  embarrassing 
mind." 

They  all  stayed  to  dinner,  and  Bertha  rolled  up  her 
sleeves  and  helped  in  the  kitchen  while  the  Captain 
went  to  market  with  Lucius.  McArdle  having  got  a 

273 


MONEY    MAGIC 

half-day  off,  came  home  highly  wrought  up  again  at 
thought  of  meeting  Captain  Haney  and  his  handsome 
wife.  He  looked  distinctly  less  care-worn,  though  he 
confessed  that  it  was  hard  to  rise  at  the  hour  necessary 
to  reach  his  work  at  seven.  Bertha's  heart  warmed 
to  him.  In  a  certain  dreamy,  speculative  turn  of  eye 
he  was  like  her  father — a  man  inventing  new  forms  as 
naturally  as  other  minds  copy  worn  models.  He  was 
gaining  in  conversational  powers,  as  he  came  to  know 
Mart  better,  and  took  occasion  to  lay  before  him  the 
plans  for  several  inventions,  small  in  themselves,  but 
of  possible  value,  so  Lucius  said. 

There  was  something  hearty,  wholesome,  and  satis 
fying  in  this  visit,  and  Bertha  went  away  with  increased 
liking  for  the  McArdles.  "I'm  glad  you  gave  them  a 
boost,  Mart,"  she  said,  as  they  left  the  house,  "and  you 
fixed  it  fine.  Mac  talked  to  me  a  half -hour  explaining 
that  you  hadn't  put  it  on  a  charity  basis — just  sold  the 
house  on  long  time." 

"That  was  Lucius's  idea.     Wasn't  it,  Lucius?" 

Lucius  did  not  appear  to  hear. 

They  were  whirring  down  an  avenue  bordered  by 
elms  in  expanding  leaf,  the  sky  was  filled  with  big  white 
clouds  like  those  which  come  and  go  over  the  great 
domes  of  the  Rockies,  and  the  air  was  warm  and  sweet, 
not  yet  dusked  by  the  city's  chimneys.  Bertha's  heart 
rose  on  joyous  wing.  "Let's  call  and  take  the  Mosses 
for  a  ride,"  she  suggested. 

"With  all  the  pleasure  in  the  world,"  he  replied;  and 
when  they  drew  up  before  the  side  door  of  the  huge 
block,  Bertha  sprang  out  and  hurried  in  without  wait 
ing  for  Lucius  to  accompany  her. 

Mrs.  Moss  came  to  the  studio  door,  and  Bertha's 
shining  face  so  wrought  upon  her  that  she  seized  her 

274 


MONEY    MAGIC 

and  kissed  her  with  sincere  pleasure.     "Joe,  here's  Mrs. 
Haney." 

Moss  was  modelling  a  small  figure  on  a  stand  near  one 
of  the  windows,  but  left  his  work  and  came  towards  her 
with  beaming  smile.  "What  a  coincidence!  We  were 
just  discussing  you.  How  do  you  do  ?  Shake  my  arm 
j — my  hands  are  muddy."  She  took  his  outbent  wrist 
and  shook  it  with  frank  heartiness.  He  explained: 
"I  said  you'd  comeback;  Julia  declared,  'No.  Once 
she  tastes  the  glories  of  New  York,  good-bye  to  Chi 
cago  and  the  West.'" 

Bertha  interrupted:  "I  want  you  to  lay  off  and  go 
out  for  a  whirl  in  our  machine." 

"How  gay!"  cried  Moss.  "I  ought  to  be  working,  for 
my  rent  is  coming  due ;  but  what's  the  diff  ?  Here  goes ! 
Come  on,  Julia,  we'll  shut  up  shop  and  let  art  wag." 

Julia  was  doubtful.     "You  know  you  promised — " 

"Of  course  I  did — that's  the  prerogative  of  the  artist. 
Come  on,  now;  I'll  work  to-night." 

"To-night  is  the  Hall's  circus  party." 

"So  it  is!  Well,  no  matter.  I'm  hungry  for  some 
whizzing,  lashing,  cool,  clear  air." 

Dodging  behind  a  screen  in  the  corner,  like  an  actor 
"doing  a  stunt,"  he  reappeared  a  few  moments  later 
with  clean  hands,  wearing  a  gray  jacket  and  cap. 
"Hurry,  hurry!"  he  called.  He  was  like  a  lad  invited 
to  go  fishing  or  swimming. 

"I've  been  all  'balled  up'  since  you  went  away,"  he 
explained — ' '  took  a  contract  to  produce  a  certain  line 
of  ornamental  reliefs;  it  never  pays  to  be  mercenary. 
But  there  it  is!  I  was  greedy,  I  went  out  for  money — • 
now  behold  me  in  the  grasp  of  a  business  agreement. 
Can't  sleep,  can't  breathe  country  air — had  to  work  all 
day  Sunday." 

275 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"It  '11  pay  some  of  our  debts,  though,"  explained  Mrs. 
Moss,  "and  buy  the  children's  summer  suits." 

"Summer  suits!  Why  summer  suits?  I  only  had 
one  complete  suit  a  year  when  I  was  a  child — and  that 
was  a  buff." 

All  the  way  down  the  elevator  he  gazed  admiringly 
at  Bertha.  "My,  my!  how  fit  you  look.  Julia,  why 
don't  you  get  a  hat  and  cloak  like  that?" 

*  *  Why  don't  I  ?  Do  you  know  why  ?"  Then  as  they 
came  out  in  sight  of  the  'mobile  she  said,  "Why  don't 
you  furnish  me  an  auto-car  like  this?" 

"I  will,"  he  said,  as  though  the  notion  had  just  risen 
in  his  mind.  "I'll  secure  one  this  week." 

Mart,  who  had  taken  a  seat  with  Lucius,  was  touched 
and  warmed  by  their  hearty  greeting,  and  they  rolled 
away  up  the  street  as  merry  as  school-children — even 
the  self-contained  Lucius  smiled  at  Joe's  odd  turns  of 
speech.  Bertha's  heart  swelled  with  the  keen  delight 
of  giving  pleasure  to  her  friends.  This  was,  indeed,  the 
chief  of  all  the  wondrous  powers  of  money — it  enabled 
one  to  be  hospitable,  to  possess  a  home  wherein  visitors 
were  always  welcome,  to  own  a  car  in  which  dear  friends 
could  ride ;  for  the  moment  her  resolution  to  give  it  all 
up  weakened. 

Moss  was  delirious  with  joy  as  they  went  sweeping 
up  the  Lake  Shore  Drive.  He  took  off  his  cap  and 
stood  up  in  the  car  in  order  to  drink  deep  of  the  wind 
that  came  over  the  water,  crisp  and  clean  and  crystalline. 

On  the  park  mead  the  boys  were  playing  ball,  and  the 
combination  of  green  grass  and  soft  and  feathery  foli 
age  was  very  beautiful.  The  water-fowl  were  out,  the 
captive  cranes  crying,  and  the  drives  were  full  of  car 
riages  and  cars.  It  was  all  very  cheering,  with  death 
and  winter  far  away. 

276 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Moss,  sobering  somewhat,  began  to  set  forth  his  plan 
for  making  Chicago  a  new  and  greater  Venice  by  bring 
ing  the  lake  into  all  the  city  boulevards  and  spanning 
these  waterways  with  stately  bridges  of  a  new  type, 
"designed  by  Joe  Moss,  of  course,"  he  added;  "'twould 
make  Venice  look  like  a  faded  print  in  a  lovely  old  song- 
book." 

His  talk  took  hold  of  Bertha's  imagination — not  be 
cause  she  cared  to  see  Chicago  adorned,  but  because  he 
was  so  singularly  altruistic  in  his  concernments.  That 
a  man  should  live  to  make  the  world  more  beautiful 
was  a  wondrous  discovery  for  her.  He  was  not  special 
ly  troubled  about  the  physical  welfare  or  the  morals  of 
the  average  citizen,  but  the  city's  grossness,  its  willing 
ness  to  perpetuate  ugly  forms,  rasped  him,  angered  him. 

She  was  eager  to  tell  him  of  her  own  change  of  view, 
but  waited  till  their  ride  was  over  and  they  were  seat 
ed  in  the  studio  and  a  moment's  private  conversation 
was  possible.  Tingling  with  the  stimulus  of  his  frag 
mentary  exclamations,  she  impulsively  began:  "If 
I  were  a  poor  girl  who  wanted  to  earn  a  living  in  the 
world,  what  would  you  advise  me  to  do?" 

"Get  married!"  His  answer  was  jocular,  but,  ob 
serving  her  displeasure,  he  added:  "I'm  sorry  I  said 
that  in  just  that  tone,  but  at  the  same  time  I  really 
mean  it.  A  woman  can  do  other  things,  but  marry  she 
must  if  she  is  to  fulfil  her  place  in  the  world — and  be 
happy." 

She  was  balked  and  disappointed,  he  perceived,  and 
he  was  forced  to  go  further:  "I  certainly  wouldn't  ad 
vise  any  girl  to  study  painting  or  sculpture  in  the  hope 
of  making  a  living  by  it.  The  only  side  of  art  that  isn't 
hopelessly  out  of  the  running  is  the  decorative — home 
decoration  is  a  sure  and  worthy  profession.  People 

277 


MONEY    MAGIC 

don't  feel  keen  need  of  sculpture,  but  they  do  like 
pretty  walls  and  nice  furniture.  I  know  several  highly 
successful  women  decorators — but  I  wouldn't  advise 
that  work  for  any  one  as  an  easy  way  to  make  a  living, 
for  the  decorative  sense  is  either  a  gift  at  birth  or  ac 
quired  after  hard  study." 

' '  Do  they  teach  it  over  there  ?"  She  nodded  towards 
the  lake.  "I  liked  it  over  there,"  she  said,  wistfully. 
"You  see  I  didn't  get  much  of  a  show  at  school.  I  be 
gan  to  stay  out  to  help  mother  when  I  was  fourteen. 
I  missed  a  whole  lot.  I'd  kind  o'  like  to  make  it  up 
now  if  I  could." 

•  Moss  was  eager  to  probe  a  little  deeper.  ' '  Your  life 
is  thrillingly  romantic  to  us — the  kind  of  thing  we 
read  of.  Congdon  writes  that  you  have  a  superb 
home.  I  should  think  you'd  hate  to  leave  it,  even  for 
a  visit." 

Her  hands  strained  together  as  if  in  resistance  to  an 
impulse  of  pleading;  then  she  answered:  "Yes — but 
then,  you  see,  it  isn't  really  mine — it's  the  Captain's." 

"Yours  by  marriage." 

"That's  what  people  say — but  I  don't  know.  Some 
times  I  think  I  have  no  right  to  any  part  of  it.  You 
have  to  earn  what  you  own,  don't  you?" 

What  was  this  doubt  at  her  heart?  The  unex 
plained  emotion  in  her  voice  moved  him  profoundly. 
He  cautiously  approached.  "Of  course,  we  know 
Frank  Congdon — he  likes  to  '  string '  us  Easterners  and 
we  take  his  yarns  with  due  discount.  I  suppose  Cap 
tain  Haney,  like  many  other  Western  men,  is  ready  to 
try  his  luck  now  and  again,  and  in  that  sense  really  is 
a  gambler." 

She  faced  him  squarely.  "No,  he  has  been  the  real 
thing.  He  kept  a  saloon — when  I  first  knew  him,  but 


MONEY    MAGIC 

he  gave  it  all  up  for  me.  I  wouldn't  promise  to  marry 
him  till  he  did.  Everybody  out  there  knows  his  career, 
and  most  people  think  he  got  his  money  underhand, 
but  he  tells  me  he  didn't,  and  I  take  his  word.  Every 
dollar  he  spends  on  me  or  on  our  home  comes  out  of 
some  mines  he  owns.  I  told  him  I  wouldn't  touch  a 
dollar  of  the  saloon  money — and  I  won't.  Some  folks 
think  I  don't  care,  but  I  do.  I  don't  like  the  saloon 
business,  and  he  got  out  and  he's  livin'  straight  now, 
as  straight  as  any  man.  It's  pretty  hard  on  him,  too, 
though  he  won't  admit  it.  He  must  get  awful  sick  of 
sittin'  round  the  way  he  does.  I  tell  him  he  needn't  cut 
out  all  his  old  cronies  on  my  account.  He  says  he  ain't 
sufferin',  but  it's  like  shuttin'  a  bronco  up  in  the  corral 
and  lettin'  the  herd  go  back  into  the  hills." 

"Perhaps  he  thinks  you're  better  fun  than  any  of  his 
cronies." 

She  ignored  the  implied  compliment  and  went  on: 

"All  the  same,  it's  drawin'  mighty  close  lines  on  him. 
You  can't  take  a  man  living  a  free-and-easy  life  the  way 
he  was  and  wing  him  all  at  once  and  tie  him  down 
to  a  chair  without  seein'  some  suffering.  Don't  you 
know  it?" 

"Does  he  complain?" 

"Not  a  whimper.  Sometimes  I  wish  he  would.  No, 
he  just  waits — but  I'm  afraid  he'll  get  lonesome  some 
day  and  break  loose  and  go  back  to  the  game." 

In  this  way  the  sculptor  had  come  very  close  to  her 
secret,  and  she  was  trembling  to  deeper  confidence,  when 
he  said,  very  gently:  "Of  course,  it  does  seem  a  little 
strange  to  me  that  one  so  young  and  charming  as  you 
are  should  be  married  to  a  man  of  his  type,  but  I  sup 
pose  he  was  a  handsome  figure  before  his — accident." 

Her  eyes  glowed.  "He  was  one  of  the  grandest- 
J9  279 


MONEY    MAGIC 

looking  men!  I  never  liked  his  trade — and  I  mis 
trusted  him,  at  first;  but  when  he  cut  himself  out  of 
the  whole  business — forme — I  couldn't  help  likin'  him; 
he  was  so  big-hearted  and  free-handed.  We  needed 
his  help,  all  right.  Mother  was  sick,  and  my  brother's 
ranch  was  playing  to  hard  luck.  But  don't  think  I 
married  him  for  his  money — I  liked  him  then,  and,  be 
sides — well,  I  thought  I  was  doing  the  right  thing — but 
now — well,  I'm  guessing."  She  ended  abruptly,  and  in 
the  tremor  of  that  final  word  Moss  read  her  secret.  She 
had  never  loved  her  husband.  Pity  and  a  kind  of 
loyalty  to  her  word  had  carried  her  to  his  side,  and  now 
a  sense  of  duty  bound  her  there. 

With  sincere  sympathy,  he  said:  "We  all  do  wrong 
at  times  that  good  may  come  out  of  it.  You  could  not 
foresee  the  future — the  best  of  us  can  only  guess  at  the 
effect  of  any  action.  You  did  the  best  you  knew  at 
the  moment.  The  question  you  have  to  face  now  has 
only  slight  relation  to  the  past.  No  one  can  enter 
wholly  into  another's  perplexity — I'm  not  even  sure 
of  a  single  one  of  my  inferences — but  if  you  are  think 
ing  of — separation,  I  would  say,  meet  this  crisis  as 
bravely  as  you  met  the  other.  But  I  don't  believe  we 
should  decide  any  such  question  selfishly.  I  am  no\, 
of  those  who  always  seek  the  side  on  which  lies  personal 
happiness,  because  a  happiness  that  is  essentially  self 
ish  won't  last.  The  Captain  lives  only  for  you — any 
one  can  see  that.  What  he  does  for  you  springs  from 
deep  affection.  What  would  happen  to  him — if  you 
left  him?" 

He  paused  a  moment  and  watched  her  subduing  her 
tears;  then  added:  "I  won't  say  I  was  unprepared  for 
what  you've  said,  for  the  entire  relationship,  from  our 
first  meeting,  seemed  too  abnormal  to  be  altogether 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

happy.  Money  will  buy  a  great  many  desirable  things, 
but  it  has  its  limits.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  too  much 
to  expect  of  you — If  your  feeling  for  him  has  changed — " 

His  delicacy,  his  sympathy  for  her,  was  made  ap 
parent  by  the  unusual  hesitation  of  his  speech,  and  she 
would  have  broken  down  completely  had  not  Julia 
Moss  called  out:  "Joe,  turn  on  the  lights — it's  getting 
dark." 

Conscious  of  Bertha's  emotion,  he  did  not  immedi 
ately  do  as  he  was  bidden.  "I  wish  you'd  talk  this 
over  with  Julia,"  he  ended  gently;  "she's  a  very  wise 
little  woman." 

Bertha  shook  her  head.  "I  didn't  intend  to  talk  it 
over  with  you.  I  don't  know  what  possessed  me.  I 
had  no  business  to  say  what  I  did." 

He  reassured  her.  "All  you've  told  me  and  the 
part  I've  guessed  is  quite  safe.  I  will  not  even  permit 
Julia  to  share  your  confidence  till  you  are  willing  to 
speak  to  her  yourself." 

As  he  slowly  lighted  the  studio  Bertha  was  surprised 
and  a  little  troubled  to  find  that  two  or  three  other 
visitors  had  slipped  in  through  the  dusk,  and  were 
grouped  about  the  tea-table,  and  that  the  Captain  was 
again  the  centre  of  an  eager-eyed  group.  "They  treat 
him  as  if  he  were  an  Eskimo,"  she  thought  bitterly, 
and  rose  to  join  the  circle  and  protect  him  from  their 
inquisition. 

Haney  was  feeling  extremely  well,  and  talked  with  so 
much  of  his  old  time  vigor  and  slash  of  epithet  that 
his  little  audience  was  quite  entranced.  He  enlarged 
upon  the  experiences  of  a  year  he  had  spent  in  Alaska. 
"Mining  up  there  in  them  days  made  gambling  slow 
business,"  he  said.  (He  had  told  Bertha  that  he  had 
made  an  attempt  to  get  out  of  "the  trade,"  but  she 

281 


MONEY    MAGIC 

was  content  to  have  him  put  it  on  less  self-righteous 
grounds.)  He  contrived  to  make  his  hearers  feel  very 
keenly  the  pitiless,  long-drawn  ferocity  of  that  sunless 
winter.  He  made  it  plain  why  men  in  that  far  land 
came  together  in  vile  dens  to  drink  and  gamble,  and 
Moss  glowed  with  the  wonder  and  delight  of  those  great 
boys  who  could  rush  away  to  the  arctic  edge  of  the 
world  and  die  with  laughing  curses  on  their  lips. 

"What  did  you  all  do  it  for?"  he  asked,  bluntly. 
"For  money?" 

"Partly — but  more  for  the  love  of  doing  something 
hard.  No  man  but  a  miser  punishes  himself  for  love  of 
gold — it's  for  love  of  what  the  stuff  will  buy,  that  men 
fight  the  snows." 

While  Haney  talked  of  these  things  Bertha's  eyes 
were  musingly  turned  on  the  face  of  the  sculptor,  and 
her  mind  was  far  from  the  scenes  which  Mart  so  vividly 
described.  This  side  of  his  life  no  longer  amused  her — 
on  the  contrary  she  shrank  from  any  disclosure  of  his 
savage  career.  She  was  now  as  unjust  in  her  criticism 
as  she  had  been  fond  in  her  admiration,  and  when  with 
darkening  brow  she  cut  short  his  garrulous  flow  of 
narrative  Julia  perceived  her  displeasure. 

Haney  apologized,  handsomely.  "It's  natural  for 
the  ould  bedraggled  eagle  in  the  cage  with  a  club  on 
his  wrist  to  dream  of  the  circles  he  used  to  cut  and  the 
fish  he  set  claw  to.  In  them  days  I  feared  no  man's 
weight,  and  no  night  or  stream.  'Twas  all  joyous  battle 
to  me,  and  now,  as  I  sit  here  on  velvet  with  only  to 
snap  me  fingers  for  anny thing  I  want,  I  look  back  at 
thim  fierce  old  times  with  a  sneaking  kind  o'  wish  to 
live  'em  all  over  again.  Bertie  knows  me  weakness. 
I  would  talk  forever  did  she  lave  me  go  on;  but  'tis 
no  blame  to  her — it  was  a  cruel,  bad,  careless  life." 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

"When  I  come  West,"  said  Moss,  sincerely,  "we'll  go 
camping  together,  and  every  night  by  the  fire  we'll 
smoke  and  you  can  tell  me  all  about  your  journeys. 
I  assure  you  they  are  epic  to  me." 

Dr.  Brent,  a  little  later,  put  in  a  private  word  to 
Bertie.  "Now  you're  going  back  into  the  high  coun 
try  and  you'll  find  it  necessary  to  watch  the  Captain 
pretty  closely.  I  suspect  he'll  find  his  heart  thumping 
briskly  when  he  reaches  the  Springs.  He  may  stand 
that  altitude  all  right,  but  don't  let  him  go  higher.  He 
will  be  taking  chances  if  he  goes  above  six  thousand 
feet.  You'd  better  have  Steel  of  Denver  come  down 
and  examine  him  to  see  how  he  stands  the  first  few 
days.  I  mention  Steel  because  I  know  him — I've  no 
doubt  there  are  plenty  of  good  men  in  the  Springs." 

"What  '11  I  do  if  he's  worse?" 

"Bring  him  back  here  or  go  to  sea  level — only  be 
ware  of  high  passes." 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE  HANEYS  RETURN  TO  THE  PEAKS 

THE  forces  that  really  move  most  men  are  the 
small,  concrete,  individual  experiences  of  life. 
The  death  of  a  child  is  of  more  account  to  its  parents 
than  the  fall  of  a  republic.  Napoleon  did  not  forget 
Josephine  in  his  Italian  campaigns,  and  Grant,  inflex 
ible  commander  of  a  half -million  men,  never  failed, 
even  in  the  Wilderness,  to  remember  the  plain  little 
woman  whose  fireside  fortunes  were  so  closely  inter 
woven  with  his  epoch-making  wars. 

As  Ben  Fordyce  lost  interest  in  the  question  of  labor 
and  capital  and  the  political  struggles  of  the  state  (be 
cause  they  were  of  less  account  than  his  own  com 
bat  with  the  powers  of  darkness),  so  Bertha  had  little 
thought  of  the  abstract,  the  sociologic,  in  her  uneasiness 
— the  strife  was  individual,  the  problems  personal — and 
at  last,  weary  of  question,  of  doubt,  she  yielded  once 
more  to  the  protecting  power  which  lay  in  Haney's 
gold  and  permitted  herself  to  enjoy  its  use,  its  command 
of  men.  There  was  something  like  intoxication  in 
this  sense  of  supremacy,  this  freedom  from  ceaseless 
calculation,  and  to  rise  above  the  doubt  in  which  she 
had  been  plunged  was  like  suddenly  acquiring  wings. 

She  accepted  any  chance  to  penetrate  the  city's  life, 
determined  to  secure  all  that  she  could  of  its  light  and 
luxury,  and  in  return  intrusted  Lucius  with  plans  for 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

luncheons  and  dinners,  which  he  carried  out  with  lav 
ish  hand. 

Mart  seconded  all  her  resolutions  with  hearty  voice. 
"There's  nothing  too  good  for  the  Haneys!"  he  re 
peatedly  chuckled. 

In  the  midst  of  other  gayeties  she  had  the  McArdles 
over  to  mid-day  dinner  one  Saturday,  and  afterwards 
took  them  all,  a  noisy  gang,  to  the  theatre — Patrick 
Haney  as  much  of  a  boy  as  his  grandsons,  McArdle 
alone  being  unhappy  as  well  as  uneasy. 

She  went  about  the  shops,  buying  with  reckless  hand 
treasures  for  the  house  in  the  Springs,  and  this  gave 
her  husband  more  satisfaction  than  any  other  extrav 
agance,  for  each  article  seemed  a  gage  of  the  perman 
ency  of  his  home.  In  support  of  her  mood  he  urged 
her  to  even  larger  expenditures.  "Buy,  buy  like  a 
queen,"  he  often  commanded,  as  she  mused  upon  some 
choice.  "Take  the  best!" 

There  was  instruction  as  well  as  a  guilty  delight  in  all 
this  conjuring  with  a  magic  check-book,  and  Bertha 
grew  in  grace  and  dignity  in  her  role  as  hostess.  Her 
circle  of  acquaintances  widened,  but  the  Mosses,  her 
first  friends  in  the  city,  were  not  displaced  in  her  af 
fections.  To  them  she  continued  to  play  the  generous 
fairy  in  as  many  pleasant  ways  as  they  would  permit. 
The  theatre  continued  to  be  her  delight,  as  well  as  her 
school  of  life,  and  a  box-party  followed  nearly  every 
dinner.  She  was  like  a  child  in  the  catholicity  of  her 
appetite,  for  she  devoured  Shakespearian  bread,  Ibsen 
roasts,  and  comic  opera  cream-puffs  with  almost  equal 
gusto — and  mentally  thrived  upon  the  mixture.  To 
the  outsider  she  seemed  one  of  the  most  fortunate 
women  in  the  world. 

And  yet  every  day  made  her  less  tolerant  of  the 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

crippled  old  man  at  her  side.  She  did  not  pout  or 
sulk  or  answer  him  shortly,  but  she  often  forgot  him — • 
failed  to  answer  him — -not  out  of  petulance  or  disgust, 
but  because  her  mind  was  busy  with  other  people. 
Gradually,  without  realizing  it,  she  got  into  the  habit 
of  leaving  him  to  amuse  himself,  as  he  best  could,  for 
she  knew  he  did  not  specially  care  for  the  pursuits  which 
gave  her  the  keenest  joy.  In  consequence  of  this  un 
intentional  neglect  he  very  naturally  fell  more  and  more 
into  the  hands  of  the  bar-room  spongers  who  loitered 
about  the  hotel  corridors.  He  dreaded  loneliness,  and 
it  was  to  keep  his  companions  about  him  that  he  be 
came  a  spendthrift  in  liquors.  Sternly  and  deliberately 
temperate  during  his  long  career  as  a  gambler,  he  fell 
at  last  into  drinking  to  excess,  and  on  one  unhappy 
afternoon  returned  to  Bertha  quite  plainly  drunk. 

She  was  both  startled  and  disgusted  by  this  sign  of 
weakness,  and  he  was  not  so  blinded  by  the  mist  of 
his  potations  but  that  he  perceived  the  shrinking  re 
luctance  of  her  touch  as  she  aided  Lucius  in  lifting  him 
into  the  bed.  His  inert,  lumpish  form  was  at  the 
moment  hideously  repulsive  to  her,  and  physical  con 
tact  with  him  a  dreaded  thing.  What  was  left  if  he 
lost  that  self-control  which  had  made  him  admirable  ? 
She  had  always  been  able  to  qualify  his  other  short 
comings  by  saying,  "Well,  anyhow,  he  don't  drink." 
She  could  boast  of  this  no  longer. 

It  was  a  most  miserable  night  for  her.  At  dinner  she 
was  forced  to  lie  about  him  (for  the  first  time) ,  and  she 
did  it  so  badly  that  Joe  Moss  divined  her  trouble  and 
came  generously  to  her  aid  with  a  long  and  amusing 
story  about  Whistler. 

The  play  to  which  she  took  her  guests  did  not  help 
her  to  laughter,  for  it  set  forth  with  diabolic  skill  the  life 

286 


MONEY    MAGIC 

of  a  woman  who  loathed  her  husband,  dreaded  mater 
nity,  and  hated  herself — a  baffling,  marvellously  intri 
cate  and  searching  play — meat  for  well  people,  not  for 
those  mentally  ill  at  ease  or  morally  unstable.  Of  a 
truth,  Bertha  saw  but  half  of  it  and  comprehended  less, 
for  she  could  not  forget  the  leaden  hands  and  flushed 
face  of  the  man  she  called  husband — and  whom  she 
had  left  in  his  bed  to  sleep  away  his  hours  of  intox 
ication.  She  pitied  him  now — but  in  a  new  fashion. 
Her  compassion  was  mixed  with  contempt,  and  that 
showed  more  clearly  than  any  other  feeling  could  the 
depth  to  which  Marshall  Haney  had  sunk. 

When  she  came  home  at  midnight  she  listened  at  his 
door,  but  did  not  enter,  for  Lucius — skilled  in  all  such 
matters — reported  the  Captain  to  be  "all  right." 

She  went  to  her  own  room  in  a  more  darkly  tragic 
mood  than  she  had  ever  known  before.  Her  punish 
ment,  her  time  for  trouble,  had  begun.  "I  reckon  I'm 
due  to  pay  for  my  fun,"  she  said  to  herself,  "but  not  in 
the  way  I've  been  figuring  on."  Haney  seemed  at  the 
moment  a  complete  physical  ruin,  and  the  change 
which  his  helplessness  wrought  in  her  was  most  radical. 

His  deeply  penitent  mood  next  morning  hurt  and  re 
pelled  her  almost  as  much  as  his  maudlin  jocularity  of 
the  night  before.  She  would  have  preferred  a  brazen 
levity  to  this  humble  confession.  "'Twas  me  boast," 
he  sadly  asserted,  "that  no  man  ever  caught  me  with 
me  eyes  full  of  sand  and  me  tongue  twisted — and  now 
look  at  me!  Tis  what  comes  of  having  nothing  to  do 
but  trade  lies  with  a  lot  of  flat -bottomed  loafers  in  a 
gaudy  bar-room.  But  don't  worry,  darlin',  right  here 
old  Mart  pulls  up.  You'll  not  see  anny  more  of  this. 
Forget  it,  dear-heart — won't  you  now  ?" 

She  promised,  of  course,  but  the  chasm  between  them 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

was  widened,  and  a  fear  of  his  again  yielding  to  tempta 
tion  cut  short  her  stay  in  the  city,  for  Lucius  warningly 
explained:  "The  Captain  is  settling  into  a  corner  of 
the  bar-room  with  a  gang  of  sponging  blackguards 
around  him,  and  every  day  makes  it  less  easy  for  him 
to  break  away.  I'd  advise  going  home,"  he  ended, 
quietly.  "The  Springs  is  a  safer  place  for  him  now." 

The  hyenas  were  beginning  to  prowl  around  the  dis 
abled  lion,  and  this  the  faithful  servant  knew  even  bet 
ter  than  the  wife. 

"All  right,  home  we  go,"  she  replied,  and  the  thought 
of  "home"  was  both  sweet  and  perilous. 

Haney  met  her  decision  with  pathetic,  instant  joy. 
"I'm  ready,  I  was  only  waitin',"  he  said.  "After  all, 
your  own  shack  is  better  than  a  pearl  palace  in  anny 
town,  and  it's  gettin'  hot  besides." 

Bertha  parted  from  the  Mosses  with  keen  sorrow. 
Joe  had  come  to  be  like  an  elder  brother  to  her — a 
brother  and  a  teacher,  and,  next  to  Ben  Fordyce,  was 
more  often  in  her  thought  than  any  other  human 
being.  She  had  lost  part  of  her  awe  of  him,  but  her 
affection  had  deepened  as  she  came  to  understand  the 
essential  manliness  and  simplicity  of  his  character. 
He  redeemed  the  artist-world  from  the  shame  men  like 
Humiston  had  put  upon  it. 

As  she  entered  for  the  last  time  the  studio  in  which 
she  had  spent  so  many  happy  hours  and  from  whose 
atmosphere  of  work  and  high  endeavor  she  had  de 
rived  so  much  mental  and  moral  development  she  was 
sad,  and  this  sadness  lent  a  beauty  to  her  face  that  it 
had  never  before  attained.  She  looked  older,  too;  and 
contrasting  her  with  the  girl  who  had  first  looked  in  at 
his  door,  Moss  could  scarcely  believe  that  less  than 
half  a  year  had  affected  this  change  in  her.  He  was 

288 


MONEY   MAGIC 

too  keen  an  observer  not  to  know  that  part  of  this  was 
due  to  a  refining  taste  in  hats  and  gowns,  but  beneath 
all  these  superficial  traits  she  had  grown  swiftly  in  the 
expression  of  security  and  power. 

He  greeted  her  as  usual  with  a  frank  nod  and  (his 
hands  being  free  from  clay)  advanced  to  shake  hands. 
"Don't  tell  me  you've  come  to  say  good-bye." 

"That's  what,"  she  curtly  said.  "It's  up  to  me  to 
take  the  Captain  home.  He's  getting  into  bad  habits 
lying  around  this  hotel." 

His  face  clouded.  "I've  been  afraid  of  that,"  he 
answered,  gently.  "Yes,  you'd  better  go  home.  It's 
harder  for  a  man  to  have  a  good,  easy  time  than  it  is  for 
a  woman.  But  sit  down,  Julia  will  be  in  soon;  you 
mustn't  go  without  seeing  her." 

After  some  further  talk  on  trains  and  other  common 
places  she  became  abruptly  personal.  "I've  been 
having  a  whole  lot  of  fun  buying  things  and  planting 
dollars,  but  I'm  beginning  to  see  an  end  to  that  kind 
of  business.  After  you've  got  your  house  filled  up  with 
furniture  and  jimcracks,  what  you  going  to  do  then?" 

"Burn  'em." 

"And  begin  all  over  again?  You  can't  buy  out  the 
town.  It's  a  real  circus  for  a  while,  but  I  can  see 
there's  a  limit  to  it.  Once  you  find  out  you  can  just 
go  down  here  to  one  of  these  jewelry- stores  and  order 
anything  you  want — you  don't  want  anything.  Here 
I  am  with  a  lot  of  money  that  ain't  mine,  having  a  gay 
whirl  spending  it,  but  I  can  see  my  finish  right  now. 
To  go  on  in  this  line  would  take  all  the  fun  out  of  life. 
What  am  I  to  do?" 

Moss  took  a  seat  and  looked  at  her  thoughtfully. 
"I  don't  know.  I  used  to  think  if  I  had  money  I'd 
start  out  and  'do  good  to  people,'  but  I'm  not  at  all 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

sure  that  charity  isn't  all  a  damned  impertinence. 
A  couple  of  years  ago  I  would  have  said  go  in  for 
'Neighborhood  Settlements,'  free  libraries,  'Noonday 
Rests,'  'Open-air  Funds,'  and  all  the  rest  of  it,  but 
now  I  ask,  'Why?'  We've  had  our  wave  of  altruism, 
and  I'm  inclined  to  think  a  wave  of  selfishness  would 
do  us  all  good — but  you're  too  young  to  be  bothered 
with  these  problems.  Go  home  and  be  happy  while  you 
can.  Enjoy  your  gold  while  it  glitters.  Work  is  my 
only  fun — real,  enduring  fun — and  I'm  not  a  bit  sure 
that  will  last.  Whatever  you  do,  be  yourself.  Don't 
try  to  be  what  you  think  I  or  some  one  else  would  like 
to  have  you.  I  like  you  because  you  are  so  straight 
forwardly  yourself ;  I  shall  be  heart-broken  if  you  take 
on  the  disease  of  the  age  and  begin  to  prate  of  your 
duty." 

She  listened  to  him  with  only  partial  comprehension 
of  his  meaning,  but  she  answered:  "I  was  brought  up 
to  think  duty  was  the  whole  works." 

"Yes,  and  your  teacher  meant  duty  to  God,  duty  to 
others.  Well,  there's  duty  to  one's  self.  The  war  of 
money  and  duty  is  the  biggest  mix  of  our  day.  It's 
simpler  to  be  poor;  then  all  you've  got  to  worry  about 
is  bread  and  shoes  and  shingles." 

"That's  just  it.  Sometimes  I  wish  I  was  back  in  the 
Golden  Eagle,  where  I — •"  she  ended  in  mid-sentence. 

He  laughed.  "You  sound  like  a  middle-aged  finan 
cier  who  mourns  (tattooed  with  dollar-marks)  for  the 
days  when  he  used  to  husk  corn  at  seventy  cents  a 
day."  She  saw  the  humor  of  this,  but  was  aware  that 
without  a  knowledge  of  Ben  Fordyce  Joe  could  not 
understand  her  problem,  therefore  she  abandoned  her 
search  for  light  and  leading.  "Well,  anyhow,  right 
here  I  quit  what  you  fellows  call  civilization.  I  hate 

290 


MONEY    MAGIC 

to  lose  you  and  Julia  and  the  rest  of  the  folks,  but  it's 
me  to  the  high  hills.  You'll  never  know  how  much 
you've  helped  me." 

"I  hope  you'll  never  know  how  thoroughly  we've 
done  you.  An  evil-minded  person  would  say  we'd 
worked  you  for  dinners  and  drives  most  shameful. 
However,  if  you  have  enjoyed  our  company  as  thor 
oughly  as  we've  delighted  in  your  champagne  and  birds, 
we'll  cry  quits.  All  my  theories  of  art  and  life  I  ad 
vance  gratis.  I  ought  to  do  something  handsome  for 
you — you've  listened  so  divinely." 

Underneath  his  banter  Moss  was  sincerely  moved. 
It  was  hard  to  say  good-bye  to  this  curious,  earnest, 
seeking  mind,  this  unspoiled  child  in  whose  face  the 
world  was  being  reflected  as  in  a  magical  mirror.  He 
loved  her  with  frank  affection — a  pure  passion  that  was 
more  intimate  than  fraternal  love  and  more  exalted, 
in  a  sense,  than  the  selfish,  devouring  passion  of  the 
suitor.  It  would  have  been  difficult  for  him  to  say 
what  his  relationship  to  her  at  the  moment  was.  It 
was  more  than  friendship,  more  than  brotherly  care, 
and  yet  it  was  definably  less  than  that  of  the  lover. 

Julia  came  in  and  was  quite  as  outspoken  in  her  re 
gret,  and  both  refused  to  say  good-bye  at  the  moment. 
"We'll  see  you  at  the  station,"  they  said,  and  Bertha 
went  away,  feeling  the  pain  of  parting  less  keen  by 
reason  of  this  promise. 

Afterwards,  as  the  hour  for  departure  came  near,  she 
hoped  they  would  not  come.  It  was  less  difficult  to 
say  "I'll  see  you  again"  than  to  utter  the  curt  "good 
bye"  which  means  so  much  in  Anglo-Saxon  life. 

They  came,  however,  together  with  several  others 
of  her  friends,  but  in  the  bustle  and  confusion  of  the 
depot  not  much  of  sentiment  could  be  uttered,  and, 

291 


MONEY    MAGIC 

though  she  felt  that  she  was  going  for  a  long  stay,  she 
was  prodigal  of  promises  to  return  soon. 

Patrick  Haney  was  there,  but  refused  to  go  with 
them.  "Sure  I'm  at  the  jumpin'-off  place  now,  and 
to  immigrate  furder  would  be  to  put  meself  in  the 
hands  of  the  murtherin'  redskins."  His  talk  was  the 
touch  of  comedy  which  the  situation  needed.  "Av 
ye  don't  mind  I'll  stay  wid  Fan,"  he  said,  a  little  more 
seriously,  to  Haney,  who  replied: 

"All  right,  'tis  as  Fan  says,"  and  so  they  entered  the 
train  for  the  upward  climb. 

Haney  himself  had  only  joy  of  the  return.  He  sat  at 
one  of  the  windows  of  the  library  car  and  studied  the 
prairie  swells  with  a  faint,  musing  smile,  till  the  dark 
ness  fell,  and  was  up  early  next  morning,  eager  and  cu 
rious,  to  see  how  the  increasing  altitude  would  affect 
him.  Only  towards  the  end  of  the  second  day  after 
eating  his  dinner  did  he  begin  to  feel  oppressed. 

"I  smell  the  altitude,"  he  confessed — "me  breath 
is  shortenin'  a  bit,  but  'tis  good  to  see  the  peaks 
again." 

In  this  long  ride  the  girl-wife  dwelt  dangerously  on 
the  bright  face  of  Ben  Fordyce.  It  was  the  thought 
of  seeing  him  again  that  came  at  last  to  steal  away 
her  regret  at  parting  from  her  Eastern  friends.  The 
splendor  of  the  Eastern  world  faded  at  last,  and  she, 
too,  soared  gladly  towards  the  mountains.  Every 
doubt  was  swallowed  up  in  a  pleasure  which  was  at 
once  pure  and  beyond  her  control. 

Ben  would  be  at  the  station,  she  was  certain,  for 
Lucius  had  wired  to  him  the  time  of  their  arrival,  and 
he  had  instantly  replied.  "I'll  be  there,  and  very  glad 
to  see  you"— these  words,  few  and  simple,  were  ad 
dressed  to  Marshall  Haney,  but  they  thrilled  her  almost 

292 


MONEY    MAGIC 

as  if  Ben  had  spoken  them  to  her.  Was  he  as  glad  to 
have  her  return  as  she  was  to  meet  him  again  ? 

"A  fine  lad,"  remarked  Haney,  as  he  pocketed  the 
envelope.  "I  wonder  does  he  marry  soon?  He'd  bet 
ter  decide  now.  I  reckon  Alice  is  not  long  for  this 
climate — poor  girl!" 

His  remark,  so  simple  in  itself,  pierced  to  the  centre  of 
Bertha's  momentary  self-deception.  "I  have  no  right 
to  think  of  him.  He  belongs  to  Alice  Heath!"  But 
the  feeling  that  she  herself  belonged  to  Marshall  Haney 
was  gone.  That  she  owed  him  service  was  true,  but 
since  the  night  of  his  drunkenness  she  had  definitely 
and  finally  abandoned  all  thought  of  being  his  wife, 
soul  to  soul,  in  the  rite  that  sanctifies  law.  True,  he 
had  kept  his  word,  he  had  not  offended  again,  but  the 
mischief  was  done.  To  return  to  the  plane  on  which 
they  had  stood  when  she  gave  her  promise  was  im 
possible. 

The  day  and  the  hour  were  such  as  make  the  plain 
lover  content  with  his  world.  The  earth,  a  mighty 
robe  of  closely  woven  velvet,  mottled  softly  in  variant 
greens,  swept  away  to  the  west,  under  a  soaring  con 
vexity  of  saffron  sky,  towards  a  cloudy  altar  where 
on  small  wisps  of  vapor  were  burning  down  to  gold 
en  embers,  while  beneath  lay  the  dark-blue  Rampart 
range.  It  was  a  world  for  horsemen,  for  free  rovers, 
and  for  swift  and  tireless  desert-kine.  The  course  of 
winds,  it  lay,  a  playground  for  tempests  that  formed 
along  the  great  divide  and  swept  down  over  the  antlike 
homes  of  men,  acknowledging  no  barrier,  exultant  of 
their  strength  of  wing  and  the  weight  of  their  horizon- 
touching  armament. 

Bertha  loved  this  land,  but  only  because  it  was  an 
approach  to  the  hills.  She  would  have  shuddered  at 

293 


MONEY    MAGIC 

its  desolate,  limitless  sweep,  treeless,  shelterless,  had 
not  the  dim  forms  of  the  distant  peaks  she  loved  so 
well  rose  just  beyond.  She  lost  her  doubt  as  they  ap 
proached,  welcoming  them  as  the  gates  of  home.  She 
forgot  all  save  the  swelling  tide  of  longing  in  her  heart. 

As  the  train  drew  slowly  in  she  caught  sight  of  Ben's 
intent  face  among  the  throng,  and  was  moved  to  the 
point  of  beating  upon  the  window.  He  seemed  care 
worn  and  older  in  this  glimpse,  but  at  sight  of  her  his 
sunny  smile  came  back  radiantly  to  his  lips  and  glinted 
like  sunshine  from  his  eyes.  In  tremulous  voice  she 
called:  "There  he  is!" 

Self -revelation  lay  in  this  ecstatic  cry  and  in  the  glad 
haste  which  kept  her  on  her  feet;  but  Haney,  unsus 
picious,  content,  found  no  cause  for  jealousy  in  her  in 
nocent  and  unrestrained  delight  at  getting  home. 

Progress  down  the  aisle  seemed  intolerably  slow, 
for  the  passengers  ahead  of  her,  stubbornly  sluggish, 
barred  her  way,  but  at  last  she  stood  looking  into  her 
lover's  face,  her  eager  hand  pressed  between  his  palms. 

"Welcome  home!"  he  called,  and  drew  her  to  him  as 
if  moved  almost  beyond  his  control  with  desire  to  clasp 
her  to  his  bosom.  In  that  instant  they  forgot  all  their 
doubts  and  scruples — overpowered  by  the  sense  of  each 
other's  nearness. 

She  was  the  first  to  recover  her  self-command,  and, 
pushing  him  away  with  a  quick,  decisive  gesture,  turned 
to  aid  Mart,  whom  Lucius  was  bringing  slowly  down  the 
step. 

Her  heart  was  still  laboring  painfully  as  she  faced 
Congdon,  but  she  contrived  to  return  his  greeting  as  he 
remarked  with  quizzical  glance,  "I  hope  you'll  not  find 
our  little  town  dull,  Mrs.  Haney." 

Dull!  She  wanted  to  scream  out  her  joy.  She  felt 
294 


MONEY    MAGIC 

like  racing  to  the  big  black  team  to  throw  her  arms 
about  their  necks.  Dull !  There  was  no  other  spot  in 
all  the  world  so  exalting  as  this  small  town  and  its  over- 
peering  peaks. 

"Where  is  Mrs.  Congdon?"  she  succeeded  in  asking 
at  last. 

"She  has  visitors  and  couldn't  come,"  he  answered. 
"But  where's  that  'mobile  we've  heard  so  much  about  ?" 

"Coming  by  fast  freight." 

"Freight!  From  all  I've  heard  of  your  doings  in 
Chicago  I  expected  it  to  come  as  excess  baggage." 

It  was  cool,  delicious  green  dusk — not  dark — with  a 
small  sickle  of  moon  in  the  west,  and  as  they  drove  up 
the  broad  avenue  towards  home  the  town,  the  uni 
verse,  was  strangely  sweet  and  satisfying.  It  seemed 
as  though  she  had  been  gone  an  age — so  much  had  come 
to  her — so  thick  was  the  crowd  of  new  experiences 
standing  between  her  going  and  her  return — so  swiftly 
had  her  mind  expanded  in  these  months  of  vivid  city 
life.  "I'll  never  go  away  again,''  she  said  to  Ben. 
"This  country  suits  me." 

"I'm  glad  to  hear  you  say  that,"  he  answered,  softly. 
In  the  most  natural  way  he  had  put  Congdon  with  Haney 
in  the  rear  seat  and  had  taken  the  place  beside  Bertha, 
and  this  nearness  filled  her  with  pleasure  and  an  un 
wonted  confusion.  How  big  he  was!  and  how  splendid 
his  clear,  youthful  profile  seemed  as  it  gleamed  silver- 
white  in  the  light  of  the  big  street-lamps.  Never  had 
his  magnetic  young  body  acted  upon  her  so  powerfully, 
so  dangerously.  His  firm  arm  touching  her  own  was 
at  once  a  delight  and  a  dread.  She  was  all  woman  at 
last,  awake,  palpitant  with  love's  full-flooding  tide — • 
bewildered,  dizzy  with  rapture.  Speech  was  difficult 
and  her  thought  had  neither  sequence  nor  design. 

295 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Fordyce  was  under  restraint  also,  and  the  burden 
of  the  talk  fell  upon  Congdon,  who  proceeded  in  his 
amusingly  hit-or-miss  way  to  detail  the  important  or 
humorous  happenings  of  the  town,  and  so  they  rolled 
along  up  the  wide  avenue  to  the  big  stone  steps  before 
the  looming,  lamp-lit  palace  which  they  called  home. 

Ben  sprang  out  first,  glad  of  another  opportunity  to 
take  Bertha's  hand,  a  clasp  that  put  the  throbbing  pain 
back  in  her  bosom — filling  her  with  a  kind  of  fear  of 
him  as  well  as  of  herself — and  without  waiting  for  the 
Captain  she  ran  up  the  walk  towards  the  wide  doorway 
where  Miss  Franklin  stood  in  smiling  welcome. 

Her  greeting  over,  the  young  wife  danced  about  the 
hall,  crying:  "Oh,  isn't  it  big  and  fine!  And  aren't 
you  glad  it's  our  own!"  She  appeared  overborne  by 
a  returning  sense  of  security  and  ownership,  and  ran 
from  room  to  room  with  all  the  ecstasy  and  abandon 
of  a  child — but  she  stopped  suddenly  in  the  middle  of 
her  own  chamber  as  if  a  remorseless  hand  were  clutching 
at  her  heart.  "But  it  is  not  mine! — I  must  give  it  all 
up!" 

Thrusting  this  intruding  thought  away,  she  hurried 
back  to  the  library,  where  the  men  were  seated  at  ease, 
sipping  some  iced  liquor  in  gross  content. 

Haney  was  beaming.  "It  makes  me  over  new  to 
sniff  this  air  again,"  he  was  saying.  "Tis  a  bad  plan 
to  let  go  your  hold  on  mountain  air.  Me  lungs  have 
contracted  a  trifle,  but  they'll  expand  again.  I'll  be 
riding  a  horse  in  a  month." 

Ben  was  sympathetic,  but  had  eyes  only  for  Bertha, 
whose  improvement  (in  mind  as  in  bearing)  astonished 
and  delighted  him.  Her  trip,  coming  just  at  the  pe 
riod  when  her  observation  was  keenest  and  her  mem 
ory  most  tenacious,  had  subtly,  swiftly  ripened  her. 

296 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Wrought  upon  by  a  thousand  pictures,  moved  by 
strange  words  and  faces,  unconsciously  changing  to  the 
color  of  each  new  conception,  deriving  sweetness  and 
charm  from  every  chance-heard  strain  of  music  and 
poetry,  she  had  opened  like  a  rose. 

The  middle-aged  are  prone  to  go  about  the  world 
carrying  their  habits,  their  prejudices,  and  their  ailments 
with  them  to  return  as  they  went  forth ;  but  youth  like 
Bertha's  adventures  out  into  the  world  eager  to  be  built 
upon,  ready  to  be  transformed  from  child  to  adult,  as 
it  would  seem,  in  a  day. 

"She  has  achieved  new  distinction!"  Ben  exulted  as 
he  watched  her  moving  about  the  room,  so  supple,  so 
powerful,  and  so  graceful,  but,  though  he  was  careful 
not  to  utter  one  word  of  praise,  he  could  not  keep  the 
glow  of  admiration  from  his  eyes. 

An  hour  later  as  he  said  good-night  and  went  away 
with  Congdon,his  heart  burned  with  secret,  rebellious 
fire.  "Was  it  not  hateful  that  this  glorious  girl  should 
be  doomed  to  live  out  the  sweetest,  most  alluring  of  her 
years  with  a  gross  and  crippled  old  man?"  To  leave 
her  under  the  same  roof  with  Mart  Haney  seemed  like 
exposing  her  to  profanation  and  despair. 

They  were  hardly  out  of  the  gate  before  Congdon 
broke  forth  in  open  praise  of  her.  "When  Mart  dies, 
what  a  witching  morsel  for  some  man!" 

Fordyce  did  not  answer  on  the  instant,  and  when  he 
did  his  voice  was  constrained.  "You  don't  think  he's 
in  immediate  danger  of  it — do  you?" 

"Quite  the  contrary.  He  looks  to  be  on  the  up 
grade;  but  it's  a  safe  bet  she  outlives  him,  and  then 
think  of  her  with  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year  to 
spend!  Talk  about  honey -pots! — and  flies!"  After 
a  moment's  silence  he  added,  musingly:  "Funny 


MONEY    MAGIC 

one's  ideas  change.  A  year  ago  I  thought  she  was 
deeply  indebted  to  him;  now  I  feel  that  with  all  his 
money  he  can't  possibly  repay  her  for  what  she's  giving 
up  on  his  account.  And  yet  his  chink  has  made  her 
what  she  is.  Money  is  a  weird  power  when  applied  to  a 
woman.  Tiled  bath-rooms,  silk  stockings  and  bonnets 
work  wonders  with  the  sex.  She's  improved  mightily 
on  this  trip." 

After  leaving  Congdon,  Ben  went  to  his  apartment 
and  telephoned  Alice  to  say  that  the  Haneys  had  ar 
rived  and  that  he  had  left  them  under  their  own  roof  in 
good  repair. 

"How  is  the  Captain's  health?"  she  asked,  with  the 
morbid  interest  of  the  invalid  gossip. 

"He  feels  the  altitude  a  little,  but  that  is  probably 
only  temporary.  They  both  seem  very  glad  to  get 
home." 

"He's  made  a  mistake.  He  can't  live  here — I  am 
perfectly  sure  of  it.  How  is  she?" 

"Very  well — and  beautifully  dressed,  which  is  the 
main  thing,"  he  added,  with  a  slight  return  of  his  hu 
mor.  "They  asked  after  you  very  particularly." 

Unable  to  sleep,  he  went  out  to  walk  the  night,  blind 
envy  in  his  brain  and  a  hot  hunger  in  his  heart,  moved 
as  he  had  never  been  moved  before  at  thought  of 
Haney's  nearness  to  that  glowing  girl.  Their  union 
was  monstrous,  incredible. 

He  no  longer  attempted  to  deceive  himself.  He 
loved  this  young  wife  whose  expanding  personality  had 
enthralled  him  from  their  first  meeting.  It  was  not 
alone  that  she  was  possessed  of  bodily  charm — she 
called  to  him  through  the  mysterious  ways  which 
lead  the  one  man  to  the  predestined  woman.  The 
affection  he  had  borne  towards  Alice  Heath  was  but 

298 


MONEY    MAGIC 

the  violet  ray  of  friendship  compared  to  the  lambent, 
leaping,  red  flame  of  his  passion  for  Bertha  Haney. 
She  represented  to  him  the  mysterious  potency  and  ro 
mance  of  the  West — typifying  its  amazing  resiliency, 
its  limitless  capability  of  adaptation.  In  a  way  that 
seemed  roundabout  and  strange,  but  which  was,  after 
all,  very  simple  and  very  direct,  she  had  lifted  her 
family  as  well  as  herself  out  of  poverty  back  into  the 
comfort  which  was  their  right.  Odd,  masculine,  un 
expected  of  phrase,  she  had  never  been  awkward  or 
cheap.  Congdon  was  right,  she  was  capable  of  high 
things.  She  made  mistakes,  of  course,  but  they  were 
not  those  which  a  shallow  personality  would  make — • 
they  sprang  rather  from  the  overflow  of  a  vigorous  and 
abounding  imagination. 

"All  she  needs  is  contact  with  people  of  the  right  sort. 
She  is  capable  of  the  highest  culture,"  he  concluded. 

That  she  was  more  vital  to  him  than  any  other 
woman  in  the  world  he  now  knew,  but  he  acknowledged 
nothing  base  in  this  confession.  He  was  not  seeking 
ways  to  possess  her  of  his  love — on  the  contrary,  he  was 
resolved  to  conduct  himself  so  nobly  that  she  would 
again  trust  and  respect  him.  "My  love  is  honorable," 
he  said.  "I  will  go  forward  as  in  the  beginning — why 
should  I  not?  —  enjoying  her  companionship  as  any 
honest  man  may  do." 

The  question  of  his  relation  to  Alice  was  not  so  easily 
settled.  She  had  come  to  irritate  him  now.  Her 
changeable,  swift- witted,  moody,  hysterical  invalidism 
had  begun  to  wear  upon  him  intolerably.  Everything 
she  did  was  wrong.  It  was  brutal  even  to  admit  this, 
but  he  could  no  longer  conceal  it  either  from  himself  or 
from  her.  It  was  deeply,  sadly  painful  to  recall  the 
promise,  the  complete  confidence  and  happiness  with 

299 


MONEY    MAGIC 

which  they  had  both  started  towards  the  West.  How 
sure  of  her  recovery  they  had  been,  how  gay  and  con 
fident  of  purpose!  Now  she  not  only  refused  to  listen 
to  his  demand  for  an  early  marriage,  but  hampered 
and  annoyed  him  in  a  hundred  ways.  As  he  walked 
the  silent  night  he  was  forced  to  acknowledge  that  she 
had  been  right  in  delaying  their  union.  And  yet  how 
dependent  upon  him  she  was.  Her  life  was  so  tragi 
cally  inwound  with  his  that  to  think  of  shaking  away 
her  hand  seemed  the  act  of  a  sordid  egoist. 

"And  even  were  I  free,  nothing  is  solved." 

The  situation  took  on  the  insoluble  and  the  tragic. 
In  the  fashion  of  well-bred,  soundly  nurtured  American 
youth  he  had  thought  of  such  complications  only  as 
subjects  for  novelists.  "There  must  be  concealment, 
but  not  duplicity,  in  my  attitude,"  he  decided.  He 
longed  for  the  constant  light  of  Bertha's  face,  the  fre 
quent  touch  of  her  hand.  Her  laughter  was  so  endlessly 
charming,  her  step  so  firm,  so  light,  so  graceful.  The 
grace  of  her  bosom — the  sweeping  line  of  her  side — 

He  stopped  there.  In  that  direction  lay  danger. 
"She  trusts  me,  and  I  will  repay  her  trust.  She  has 
chosen  me  to  be  her  adviser,  putting  her  wealth  in  my 
hands! — Well,  why  not?  We  will  see  whether  an 
honorable  man  cannot  carry  forward  even  so  difficult 
a  relationship  as  this.  I  will  visit  her  every  day,  I  will 
enjoy  her  hospitality  as  freely  as  Congdon,  and  I  will 
fulfil  my  promise  to  Alice — if  she  asks  it  of  me." 

But  deep  under  the  sombre  resolution  lay  an  un- 
uttered  belief  in  his  future,  in  his  happiness — for  this  is 
the  prerogative  of  youth.  The  dim  mountains,  the 
sinking  crescent  moon,  and  the  silence  of  the  plain  all 
seemed  somehow  to  prophesy  both  happiness  and 
peace. 


CHAPTER  XXV 
BERTHA'S     DECISION 

IT  was  good  to  wake  in  her  old  room  and  see  the  morn 
ing  light  breaking  in  golden  waves  against  the  peaks, 
to  hear  her  dogs  bay  and  to  listen  to  the  murmuring 
voice  of  the  fountains  on  the  lawn.  It  was  deliciously 
luxurious  to  sit  at  breakfast  on  the  vine-clad  porch 
with  the  shining  new  coffee -boiler  before  her,  while 
Miss  Franklin  expressed  her  admiration  of  the  nap- 
ery  and  china  which  the  Mosses  had  helped  her  to 
select. 

It  was  glorious  to  go  romping  with  the  dogs  about  the* 
garden,  and  most  intoxicating  to  mount  her  horse  and 
ride  away  upon  the  mesa,  mad  with  speed  and  ecstatic 
of  the  wind.  No  one  could  have  kept  pace  with  her 
that  first  day  at  home.  She  ran  from  one  thing  to  the 
other.  She  unpacked  and  spread  out  all  her  treasures. 
She  telegraphed  her  mother  and  'phoned  her  friends. 
She  gave  direction  to  the  servants  and  examined  every 
thing  from  the  horses'  hoofs  to  the  sewing-machine. 
She  went  over  the  house  from  top  to  bottom  to  see  that 
it  was  in  order.  She  was  crazy  with  desire  of  doing. 
Her  mid-day  meal  was  a  mere  touch-and-go  lunch,  but 
when  at  last  she  was  seated  in  her  carriage  with  Haney 
and  Miss  Franklin  she  fell  back  in  her  seat,  saying, 
"I  feel  kind  o'  sleepy  and  tired." 

"I  should  think  you  would!"  exclaimed  her  teacher. 
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MONEY    MAGIC 

"Of  all  the  galloping  creatures  you  are  the  most  won 
derful.  I  hope  you're  not  to  keep  this  up." 

Haney  put  in  a  quiet  word.  "She  will  not.  Sure, 
she  cannot.  There'll  be  nothin'  left  for  to-morrow." 

Their  ride  was  in  the  nature  of  a  triumphal  progress. 
Many  people  who  had  hesitated  about  bowing  to  them 
hitherto  took  this  morning  to  unbend,  and  Mart  ob 
served,  with  a  good  deal  of  satisfaction:  "The  town 
seems  powerful  cordial.  I  think  I'll  launch  me  boom 
for  the  Senate." 

At  the  bank-door,  where  the  carriage  waited  while 
Bertha  transacted  some  business  within,  he  held  a 
veritable  reception,  and  the  swarming  tourists,  looking 
upon  the  sleek  and  shining  team  and  the  gray  mus- 
tached,  dignified  old  man  leaning  from  his  seat  to  shake 
hands,  wondered  who  the  local  magnate  was,  and  those 
who  chanced  to  look  in  at  the  window  were  still  more 
interested  in  the  handsome  girl  in  whose  honor  the 
president  of  the  bank  left  his  mahogany  den. 

In  truth,  Bertha  had  won,  almost  without  striving  for 
it,  the  recognition  of  the  town.  Those  who  had  never 
really  established  anything  against  her  seized  upon  this 
return  as  the  moment  of  capitulation.  There  was  no 
mystery  about  her  life.  She  was  known  now,  and  no 
one  really  knew  anything  evil  of  her — why  should  she 
be  condemned? 

In  such  wise  the  current  of  comment  now  set,  and 
Mrs.  Haney  found  herself  approached  by  ladies  who 
had  hitherto  passed  her  without  so  much  as  a  nod. 
She  took  it  all  composedly,  and  in  answer  to  their  in 
vitations  bluntly  answered:  "The  Captain  ain't  up  to 
going  out  much,  and  I  don't  like  to  leave  him  alone. 
Come  and  see  us." 

She  was  composed  with  all  save  Fordyce,  who  now 
302 


MONEY    MAGIC 

produced  in  her  a  kind  of  breathlessness  which  fright 
ened  her.  She  longed  for,  yet  dreaded,  his  coming,  and 
for  several  days  avoided  direct  conversation  with  him. 
He  respected  this  reserve  in  her,  but  was  eager  to  get  her 
comment  on  the  East. 

"How  did  you  like  New  York,"  he  asked  one  night 
as  they  were  all  in  the  garden  awaiting  dinner. 

"It  scared  me,"  she  answered.  "Made  me  feel  like 
a  lady-bug  in  a  clover-huller ;  but  it  never  phased  the 
Captain,"  she  added,  with  a  smile.  "'There's  nothin' 
too  good  for  the  Haneys,'  says  he,  and  we  sure  went 
the  pace.  We  turned  Lucius  loose.  We  spent  money 
wicked — enough  to  buy  out  a  full-sized  hotel." 

Her  quaint,  shrewd  comment  on  her  extravagances 
amused  Ben  exceedingly,  and  by  keeping  to  a  line  of 
questioning  he  drew  from  her  nearly  all  her  salient  ex 
periences — excepting,  of  course,  her  grapple  with  the 
degenerate  artist. 

"Lucius  turned  out  the  jewel  they  said  he  was?" 

She  responded  with  enthusiasm.  "I  should  say  he 
did!  He  knew  everything  we  wanted  to  know  and 
more  too.  We'd  have  wandered  around  like  a  couple 
of  Utes  if  it  hadn't  been  for  him.  When  in  doubt  ask 
Lucius,  was  our  motto." 

She  told  stories  of  the  elder  Haney  and  the  Me Ar dies, 
and  described  the  trials  of  the  children  in  their  new 
home  till  Ben  laughingly  said:  "It's  hard  to  run  some 
body  else's  life — I've  found  that  out." 

And  Haney  admitted  with  a  chuckle  that  Mac  was 
"a  little  bewildered,  like  a  hen  with  a  red  rag  on  her 
tail — divided  in  his  mind  like.  As  for  Dad,  he  still 
thinks  me  a  burglar  on  an  improved  plan." 

They  also  talked  of  Bertha's  studies,  for  Miss  Frank 
lin  began  at  once  to  give  her  daily  instruction  in  certain 

3°3 


MONEY    MAGIC 

arts  which  she  considered  necessary  to  women  of  Mrs. 
Haney's  position,  and  always  at  the  moment  of  meeting 
they  spoke  of  Alice— that  is  to  say,  Haney  with  in 
variable  politeness  asked  after  her  health,  and  quite 
as  regularly  Ben  replied:  "Not  very  well."  Once  he 
added:  "I  can  hardly  get  her  out  any  more.  She 
seems  more  and  more  despondent." 

This  report  profoundly  troubled  Bertha,  and  the 
sight  of  Alice's  drawn  and  tragic  face  made  her  miser 
able.  There  was  something  in  the  sick  woman's  gaze 
which  awed  her,  and  she  was  careful  not  to  be  left  alone 
with  her.  The  thought  of  her  suffering  and  its  effect 
on  Ben  threw  a  dark  shadow  over  the  brightness  of  her 
world.  She  was  filled,  also,  with  a  growing  uneasiness 
by  reason  of  Mart's  change  of  attitude  towards  herself. 
In  the  excitement  of  his  home-coming  he  seemed  about 
to  regain  a  large  part  of  his  former  health  and  spirits. 
His  eyes  brightened,  his  smile  became  more  frequent, 
the  appealing  lines  of  his  brow  smoothed  out,  and  save 
for  an  occasional  shortening  of  the  breath  his  condition 
appeared  to  be  improving. 

This  access  of  vitality  was  apparent  to  Bertha,  and 
should  have  brought  joy  to  her  as  to  him;  but  it  did 
not,  for  with  returning  vitality  his  attitude  towards  her 
became  less  of  the  invalid  and  more  of  the  lover.  He 
said  nothing  directly — at  first — but  she  was  able  to 
interpret  all  too  well  the  meaning  of  his  jocular  remarks 
and  his  wistful  glances.  Once  he  called  her  attention  to 
the  returning  strength  in  his  arm.  "The  ould  man  is 
not  dead  yet,"  he  exulted,  lifting  his  disabled  arm  and 
clinching  his  fist.  "I  feel  younger  than  at  any  time 
since  me  accident,"  and  as  he  spoke  she  perceived 
something  of  the  lion  in  the  light  of  his  eyes. 

One  night  as  she  was  passing  his  chair  he  reached  for 
304 


MONEY    MAGIC 

her  and  caught  her  and  drew  her  down  upon  his  knee. 
"Sit  ye  down  a  wink.  Ye're  always  on  the  move  like 
a  flibberty-bidget." 

She  struggled  free  of  his  embrace,  her  face  clouded 
with  alarm  and  anger.  "Don't  be  a  fool,"  she  said, 
harshly. 

He  released  her,  saying,  humbly:  "Don't  be  angry, 
darlin',  'tis  foolish  of  me,  an  ould  crippled  wolf,  to  be 
thinking  of  matin'  with  a  fawn  like  y'rself.  I  don't 
blame  ye.  Go  your  ways." 

She  went  to  her  room,  with  his  voice — so  humbly 
penitent  and  resigned — lingering  in  her  ears,  trembling 
with  the  weight  of  the  burden  which  his  amorous  mood 
had  laid  upon  her. 

She  resented  his  action  the  more  because  life  at  the 
moment  was  so  full  of  joy.  Each  morning  was  filled 
with  pleasant  duties,  and  each  afternoon  they  drove  to 
the  office  to  discuss  the  mines  with  Ben,  and  in  the 
evening  he  called  to  sit  for  an  hour  or  two  on  the  porch, 
smoking,  talking,  till  Mart  grew  sleepy  and  yawned. 
These  meetings  were  deliciously,  calmly  delightful,  for 
Mrs.  Oilman  or  Miss  Franklin  was  always  present,  and, 
though  the  talk  was  general,  Ben  talked  for  her  ears  at 
times,  but  always  impersonally,  and  she  honored  him 
for  his  delicacy,  his  reserve,  his  respect  for  her  position 
as  a  married  woman,  recognizing  the  care  with  which 
he  avoided  everything  which  might  embarrass  her. 

And  now,  by  force  of  Mart's  humble  suing,  her  half- 
forgotten  scruples  were  revived.  Her  uneasiness  began 
again.  A  decision  was  finally  and  definitely  thrust 
upon  her.  Instantly  she  was  beset  by  all  her  doubts 
and  desires,  and  the  sky  darkened  with  clouds  of 
trouble. 

To  make  Mart  happy  was  still  her  wish,  but  the  way 
305 


MONEY    MAGIC 

was  not  so  easy  of  choice,  nor  so  simple  to  follow  as  it 
had  once  seemed.  The  briers  were  thick  before  her 
feet.  There  was  so  much  of  personal  gratification,  so 
much  of  selfish  pleasure,  in  remaining  his  companion, 
warmed  and  defended  by  all  the  comfort  and  dignity 
which  his  wealth  had  brought  to  her,  that  it  seemed  a 
kind  of  treachery  to  halt  with  her  duty  half  done.  To 
be  his  spouse,  to  become  the  mother  of  his  children, 
this  alone  would  entitle  her  to  his  bounty.  "I  can't  do 
it!"  she  cried  out — "I  can't,  I  can't!"  And  yet  not  to 
do  his  will  was  to  remain  a  pensioner  and  to  be  under 
indictment  as  an  adventuress. 

She  had  read  somewhere  these  words  from  a  great 
philosopher:  "The  woman  who  bears  a  child  to  any 
man  should  instantly  be  lawfully  seized  of  one-half  his 
goods,  for  by  that  sublime  act  she  takes  her  life  in  her 
hand  as  truly  as  the  soldier  who  charges  upon  an  in 
vading  host.  The  anguish  of  maternity  should  sanctify 
every  woman." 

On  the  other  side  of  her  hedge  lay  enticing  freedom. 
It  seemed  at  times  as  though  to  be  again  in  the  little 
office  of  the  Golden  Eagle  Hotel  would  be  a  more  per 
fect  happiness  than  this  she  now  enjoyed — but  that, 
too,  was  illusory.  How  could  she  repay  the  money  she 
had  used?  The  moment  she  left  Marshall  Haney  she 
would  not  only  be  poor,  she  would  be  profoundly  in  his 
debt.  Where  could  she  find  the  money  to  repay  him 
and  to  make  her  schooling  possible  ? 

Perplexity  was  in  her  darkened  eyes.  Happiness  and 
sorrow,  doubt  and  delight  grew  along  each  path — thick 
ly  interwoven — and  decision  became  each  day  more  dif 
ficult.  It  was  hateful  to  lie  under  the  charge  of  having 
married  merely  for  a  gambler's  money,  and  yet  to 
plunge  her  mother  and  herself  back  into  poverty  would 

306 


MONEY    MAGIC 

seem  to  others  the  act  of  one  insane.  As  she  pondered 
the  problem  of  her  life  she  lost  all  of  her  girlish  light 
ness  of  heart  and  lay  in  her  luxurious  bed  a  brooding, 
troubled  woman. 

She  could  have  gone  on  indefinitely  with  the  half- 
filial,  half  -  fraternal  relationship  into  which  she  and 
Mart  had  fallen,  but  the  thought  of  that  other  most 
intimate,  most  elemental  union  which  his  touch  had 
made  more  definite  than  ever  before  produced  in  her 
a  shudder  of  repulsion,  of  positive  loathing.  She  could 
no  longer  endure  the  clasp  of  his  hand,  and  in  spite  of 
herself  she  was  forced,  by  contrasting  experience,  to 
acknowledge  the  allurement  which  lay  in  Ben  Fordyce's 
handsome  face  and  strong  and  graceful  body. 

.  "I  must  go  away — for  a  while  at  least.     I'll  go  back 
to  the  ranch  and  think  it  over." 

And  yet  even  the  ranch  was  partly  Haney's!  How 
could  she  escape  from  her  indebtedness  to  him?  To 
what  could  she  turn  to  make  a  living?  To  leave  this 
big  house  and  her  horses,  her  garden,  her  dresses  and 
jewels,  required  heroic  resolution,  but  what  of  the  long 
days  of  toil  and  dulness  to  which  she  must  return  ? 

Worn  with  the  ceaseless  alternations  of  these  thoughts, 
she  fell  into  a  dream  that  was  half  a  waking  vision. 
She  thought  she  had  just  packed  a  bag  with  the  gown 
she  wore  the  night  she  came  to  Haney's  rescue,  when 
he  came  shuffling  into  her  room  and  said:  "Where  are 
you  goin',  darlin'?" 

She  replied:  "To  the  ranch — to  think  things  over." 

The  tears  came  to  his  eyes,  and  he  said:  "'Tis  the 
sun  out  of  me  sky  when  ye  go,  Bertie.  Do  not  stay 
long." 

She  promised  to  be  back  soon,  but  rode  away  with 
settled  intent  never  to  return. 

307 


MONEY    MAGIC 

No  one  knew  her  on  the  train,  for  she  had  drawn  her 
veil  close  and  sat  very  still.  It  seemed  that  she  went 
near  the  mine  in  some  strange  way,  and  at  the  switch 
Williams  got  on  the  train  to  stop  her  and  persuade 
her  to  return.  He  was  terribly  agitated.  "Didn't  you 
know  Mart  is  sick?"  he  said,  in  a  tone  of  reproach.  It 
seemed  as  if  a  broad  river  of  years  flowed  between  her 
self  and  the  girl  who  used  to  see  this  queer  little  man 
enter  her  hotel  door — but  he  was  unchanged.  "You 
can't  do  this  thing!"  he  went  on,  his  lips  trembling  with 
emotion. 

"What  thing?"  she  asked. 

"Fordyce  tells  me  you're  going  to  throw  poor  old 
Mart  overboard." 

"That's  my  notion — I  can't  be  his  wife,  and  so  I'm 
getting  out,"  she  answered. 

"But,  girl,  you  can't  do  that!"  and  he  swore  in  his 
excitement.  "Mart  needs  you — we  all  need  you.  It  '11 
kill  him." 

"I  can't  help  it!"  she  answered,  with  infinite  weari 
ness  in  throat  and  brain.  ' '  I  pass  it  up,  and  go  back  to 
my  brother." 

"I  don't  see  why." 

"Because  I've  no  right  to  Mart's  money." 

"You're  crazy  to  think  of  such  a  thing.  You  a 
queen!  Who's  goin'  to  catch  the  money  when  you 
drop  it?"  he  asked,  and  helplessly  added:  "I  don't 
believe  you.  You're  kiddin',  you're  tryin'  us  out." 

"I'm  doing  nothing  to  earn  this  luxury." 

' '  Doing  nothing !  My  God,  you've  made  Mart  Haney 
over  new.  You've  converted  him — as  they  say,  you've 
redeemed  him.  Let  me  tell  you  something,  little  sis 
ter,  Mart  worships  you.  It  does  him  good  just  to 
see  you.  You  don't  expect  the  moon  to  fry  bacon, 

308 


MONEY    MAGIC 

do  you?  Stars  don't  run  pumps!  Mart  is  satisfied. 
Every  time  you  speak  to  him  or  pass  by  him  he  gets 
happy  all  the  way  through — I  know,  for  I  feel  just  the 
same." 

There  was  something  in  his  eloquence  that  went  to 
the  heart  of  the  dreaming  girl.  If  any  one  in  her 
world  was  to  be  trusted  it  was  this  ugly  little  man,  who 
never  presumed  to  ask  even  a  smile  for  himself,  and 
whose  unswerving  loyalty  to  Mart  made  her  own  flight 
a  base  and  cruel  act ;  and  yet  even  as  he  pleaded  his  face 
faded  and  she  fancied  herself  stepping  from  the  train 
in  Sibley,  unnoticed  by  even  the  hackmen,  who  used  to 
bring  the  humbler  passengers  of  each  train  to  the  door 
of  the  Golden  Eagle  Hotel. 

She  walked  up  the  sidewalk,  surprised  to  find  it 
changed  to  brick.  The  hotel  was  gone,  and  in  its 
place  stood  a  saloon  marked,  "Haney's  Place."  This 
hardened  her  heart  again.  "That  settles  it!"  she  said, 
bitterly.  "He's  gone  back  to  his  old  business." 

The  road  out  to  the  ranch  seemed  very  long  and  hot, 
but  she  had  no  money,  not  a  cent  left  with  which  to  hire 
a  carriage,  and  she  kept  saying  to  herself:  "If  Mart 
knew  this,  he'd  send  Lucius  and  the  machine.  I  reckon 
he'd  be  sorry  to  see  me  walking  in  this  dust.  It's  a 
good  thing  I  have  my  old  brown  dress  on."  She  passed 
lovingly,  regretfully  over  the  splendid  gowns  which 
hung  in  her  wardrobe.  "What  will  become  of  them?" 
she  asked.  "Fan  can't  wear  them."  This  called  up  a 
vision  of  Fan  and  her  eldest  daughter,  sweeping  about 
in  her  splendor,  her  opera-cloak  only  half  encompassing 
the  mother,  while  the  girl  swished  over  the  floor  in  the 
gown  she  had  worn  at  her  last  dinner  in  the  East.  She 
laughed  and  cried  at  the  same  time — it  was  painful  to 
see  them  thus  abused. 

309 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Then  she  seemed  suddenly  to  enter  the  grove  of 
twisted,  hag-like  cedars  which  stood  upon  the  mesa  back 
of  the  ranch-house.  "By-and-by  I  will  look  like  this," 
she  dreamed,  and  laid  her  hand  on  one  that  was  ragged 
and  gnarled  and  gray  with  a  thousand  years  of  sun  and 
wind,  and  even  as  she  stood  there,  with  the  old  crones 
moaning  round  her,  Ben  suddenly  confronted  her. 

Her  first  impulse  was  for  flight,  so  sad  and  bitter 
was  his  face.  She  began  to  pity  him.  His  boyhood 
seemed  to  have  slipped  from  him  like  a  gay  cloak,  re 
vealing  the  stern  man  beneath. 

He  met  her  gravely,  self-containedly,  yet  with  re 
strained  passion,  and  his  voice  was  sternly  calm  as  he 
began :  "I  have  come  to  ask  you  what  you  wish  to  do 
with  Marshall  Haney's  inheritance?  I  will  not  be  a 
party  to  your  action.  I  helped  him  plan  out  his  will, 
and  he  said  he  could  trust  you  to  do  the  right  thing,  and 
I  have  come  to  tell  you  that  his  will  must  be  yours." 

"What  do  you  mean?"  she  asked. 

"He  is  dead!"  he  replied. 

Her  heart  turned  to  ice  at  the  sound  of  his  words,  so 
clear,  succinct,  and  piercing;  then  the  cedars  began  to 
wail  and  wail,  and  sway  in  eldrich  grief,  but  she  who 
felt  most  remorse  could  not  utter  a  sound  to  prove  her 
own  despair;  and  in  the  tumult  her  dream  ended  ab 
ruptly,  and  she  woke  to  hear  the  night  wind  whistling 
weirdly  through  the  screen  of  her  open  window. 

She  lay  in  silence,  shuddering  with  the  subsiding 
terror  of  her  vision,  till  she  came  to  a  full  realization  of 
the  fact  that  it  was  all  but  a  night  terror  and  that 
Mart  was  still  alive  and  her  decision  not  yet  irrevocably 
made. 

She  shuddered  again — not  in  grief,  but  in  terror — as 
she  relived  the  vivid  hour  of  self-chosen  poverty  which 

310 


MONEY    MAGIC 

her  dream  had  brought  her.  Yes,  the  magic  of  wealth 
had  spoiled  her  for  Sibley  and  the  ranch.  To  go  back 
there  was  impossible.  "I  will  try  the  East,"  she  said. 
"The  Mosses  will  help  me."  And  yet  to  return  to 
Chicago — after  having  played  the  grand  lady — would 
be  bitterly  hard.  Suppose  her  friends  should  meet  her 
with  cold  eyes  and  hesitating  words?  Suppose  they, 
too,  had  loved  her  money  and  not  herself?  Suppose 
even  Joe,  who  seemed  as  true  as  Williams,  should 
prove  to  be  a  selfish  sycophant.  Ah  yes,  it  would  be 
a  different  city  with  the  magic  of  Haney's  money  no 
longer  hers  to  command. 

In  this  hour  of  deepest  misery  and  despair  the  sheen 
of  his  gold  returned  like  sunlight  after  a  storm;  and 
yet,  even  as  she  permitted  herself  to  imagine  how  sweet 
ly  the  new  day  would  dawn  with  her  determination  to 
remain  the  mistress  of  this  great  house,  the  old  fear, 
the  new  disgust,  returned  to  plague  her.  Her  love  for 
Ben  Fordyce  came  also — and  the  knowledge  that  Alice 
was  dying  of  a  broken  heart  because  of  Ben's  growing 
indifference — all  these  perplexities  made  the  coming  of 
sunlight  a  mockery. 

She  rose  to  the  new  day  quite  as  undecided  as  before 
and  more  deeply  saddened.  One  thing  was  plain — • 
Ben  should  come  no  more  to  visit  her — for  Alice's  sake 
he  must  keep  the  impersonal  attitude  of  the  legal  ad 
viser.  In  that  way  alone  could  even  the  semblance  of 
peace  be  won. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

ALICE     VISITS     HANEY 

A^ICE  HEATH  was  dying  of  something  far  subtler 
than  "the  White  Death,"  to  which  Haney  so  often 
referred.  Tortured  by  Ben's  studied  tenderness  when 
at  her  side,  she  suffered  doubly  when  he  was  away, 
knowing  all  too  well  that  his  keenest  pleasure  now  lay 
in  Bertha's  companionship.  Her  doubt  darkened  into 
despair.  In  certain  moments  of  exaltation  she  rose  to 
such  heights  of  impersonal  passion  as  to  acknowledge 
fully,  generously,  the  claims  of  youth  and  health — ad 
mitting  that  she  and  Marshall  Haney  were  the  offenders 
and  not  the  young  lovers,  whose  desire  for  happiness 
was  but  an  irresistible  manifestation  of  the  mystic  force 
which  binds  the  generations  together. 

"Why  do  we  not  quietly  take  ourselves  off  and  make 
them  happy  ?"  she  asked  herself.  "Of  what  selfish  qual 
ity  is  our  love?  Here  am  I  only  a  spiteful,  hope 
less  invalid — I  hate  myself,  I  despise  my  body  and 
everything  I  am.  I  loathe  my  wrinkled  face,  my 
shrivelled  hands,  my  flat  chest.  I  am  fit  only  to  be 
bride  to  death.  I'm  tired  of  the  world — tired  of  every 
thing — and  yet  I  do  not  die.  Why  can't  I  die?" 

These  moods  never  soared  high  enough  (or  sank 
quite  low  enough)  to  permit  the  final  severing  stroke, 
and  she  ended  each  of  them  in  a  flood  of  tears,  filled 
with  ever-greater  longing  for  the  beautiful  young  lover 

312 


MONEY    MAGIC 

whose  heart  had  wandered  away  from  her.  It  was 
hard  not  to  welcome  him  when  he  came,  but  infinitely 
harder  to  send  him  away,  for  life  held  no  other  solace, 
the  day  no  other  aim. 

In  her  saner  moments  she  was  aware  of  her  own  mis 
demeanor.  She  knew  that  her  morbid  questioning,  her 
ceaseless  grievings  were  wearing  away  her  vital  force, 
and  that  no  doctor  could  ever  again  medicine  her  to 
sweet  sleep,  that  no  wind  or  cloud  would  bring  coolness 
to  her  burning  brain.  "I  am  no  longer  worthy  of  any 
man's  love,"  she  admitted  to  her  higher  self. 

She  did  not  question  Ben's  honor — he  was  of  those 
who  keep  faith.  "He  has  no  hope  of  ever  being  other 
than  the  distant  lover  of  Bertha  Haney,  and  he  is  ready 
to  fulfil  his  word  to  me,  but  I  will  not  permit  him  to  bind 
himself  to  me.  It  would  be  a  crime  to  lay  upon  him  the 
burden  of  a  wife  old  before  her  time,  sterile  and  doomed 
to  a  slow  decline."  She  revolted,  too,  at  the  thought  of 
having  a  husband  whose  heart  was  elsewhere,  whose 
restless  desire  could  not  be  held  within  the  circuit  of  his 
wife's  arms — and  yet  she  could  not  give  him  up. 

As  her  flesh  lost  its  weight  and  her  blood  its  warmth, 
her  mind  burned  with  even  more  mysterious  bright 
ness,  sending  out  rays  of  such  perilous  sublimation  that 
she  was  able  to  perceive,  as  no  earthly  inhabitant  should 
do,  the  jealously  guarded  secrets  of  those  surrounding 
her,  and  on  the  night  of  Bertha's  struggle  against  her 
fate  she  divined  in  some  supersensuous  way  the  tumult 
in  the  young  wife's  mind. 

She  laughed  at  first  with  a  cruel,  bitter  delight,  but  at 
last  her  nobler  self  conquered  and  she  resolved  to  have 
private  speech  with  Haney.  She  perceived  a  danger  in 
the  ever-deepening  passion  of  the  young  lovers.  She 
began  to  fear  that  their  love  might  soon  break  over  all 


MONEY  MAGIC 

barriers,  and  this  she  was  still  sane  enough  of  thought 
and  generous  enough  of  soul  to  wish  to  prevent. 

Her  decision  to  act  was  hastened  by  a  slurring  para 
graph  in  the  morning  paper  wherein  veiled  allusion  was 
made  to  "a  developing  scandal."  She  lay  abed  all  the 
forenoon  brooding  over  it,  and  when  she  rose  it  was  to 
dress  for  her  visit  to  Haney.  Sick  as  she  was  and  al 
most  hysterical  with  her  mood,  she  ordered  a  carriage 
and  drove  to  the  gambler's  house,  hoping  to  find  him 
alone,  determined  upon  an  interview. 

It  chanced  that  he  was  sitting  in  his  place  upon  the 
porch  watching  the  gardener  spraying  a  tree.  He 
greeted  his  visitor  most  cordially,  inviting  her  to  a  seat. 
"Bertie  is  down  town,  but  she'll  be  back  soon." 

"I'm  glad  she  is  away,  Captain  Haney,  for  I  have 
something  to  say  to  you  alone." 

"Have  you,  indeed?  Very  well,  I've  nothing  to  do 
but  listen — 'tis  not  for  me  to  boss  the  gardener." 

She  looked  about  with  uneasy  eyes,  finding  it  very 
difficult  to  begin  her  attack.  "How  much  you've  im 
proved  the  place,"  she  remarked,  irrelevantly,  her  voice 
betraying  the  deepest  agitation. 

He  looked  at  her  white  face  in  astonishment.  "  How 
are  ye,  the  day,  miss?" 

"I'm  better,  thank  you,  but  a  little  out  of  breath — I 
walked  too  fast,  I  think." 

"Does  the  altitude  make  your  heart  jump,  too?"  he 
asked,  solicitously. 

"No,  my  trouble  is  all  in  my  mind — I  mean  my 
lungs,"  she  answered.  Then,  with  a  ghastly  attempt 
at  sprightliness,  she  added:  "Now  let's  have  a  nice 
long  talk  about  symptoms — it's  so  comforting.  How 
are  you  feeling  these  days?" 

Haney  answered  with  unwonted  dejection.     "I'm 


MONEY    MAGIC 

not  so  well  to-day,  worse  luck.  This  is  me  day  for 
thinkin'  the  doctors  are  right.  They  all  agree  that  me 
heart's  overworked  up  here."  His  dejection  was  really 
due  to  Bertha's  moody  silence. 

"I'm  sorry  to  hear  that.  Do  they  think  you  may 
live  safely  at  sea-level?" 

' '  They  say  so.  Me  own  feeling  is  that  the  climate  is 
not  to  blame.  'Tis  age.  I'm  like  a  hollow-hearted 
tree,  ready  to  fall  with  the  first  puff  of  ill  wind.  I've 
never  been  a  man  since  that  devil  blew  me  to  pieces." 

She  put  her  right  hand  upon  his  arm.  "Is  it  not  a 
shame  that  you  and  I  should  stand  in  the  way  of  two 
fine,  wholesome,  young  people — shutting  them  off  from 
happiness?" 

He  turned  a  glance  upon  her  quite  too  penetrating  to 
be  borne.  ' '  You  mane — what  ? — who  ?" 

"I  mean  Bertha." 

"Do  I  stand  in  the  way  of  her  happiness?" 

She  met  the  question  squarely,  speaking  with  tense, 
drawn  lips.  "Yes,  just  as  I  do  in  Ben's  way.  We're 
neither  of  us  fit  to  be  married,  and  they  are." 

His  eyes  wavered.  "That's  true.  I'm  no  mate  for 
her — and  yet  I  think  I've  made  her  happy."  He  was 
silent  a  moment,  then  faltered:  "Ye  lay  your  hand  on 
a  sore  spot — ye  do,  surely.  'Tis  true  I've  tried  to  have 
the  money  make  up  for  me  other  shortcomings."  He 
ended  almost  humbly. 

"Money  can  do  much,  but  it  can't  buy  happiness." 

"That's  true,  too — but  'tis  able  to  buy  comfort,  and 
that's  next  door  to  happiness  in  the  long-run,  I'm 
thinkin'.  But  I'm  watchin'  her,  and  I  don't  intend  to 
stand  in  her  way,  miss.  I've  told  her  so,  and  when  the 
conquering  lad  comes  along  I  mane  to  get  out  of  the 
road." 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"Have  you  said  that?"  Her  face  reached  towards 
his  with  sudden  intensity,  and  a  snakelike  brilliancy 
glittered  in  her  eyes.  "You've  gone  as  far  as  that ?" 

"I  have." 

"Then  act,  for  the  time  has  come  to  make  your 
promise  good.  Bertha  already  loves  a  man  as  every 
girl  should  love  who  marries  happily,  and  the  gossips 
are  even  now  busy  with  her  name." 

He  was  hard  hit,  and  slowly  said:  "I  don't  believe 
it!  Who  is  the  man? — tell  me!"  He  demanded  this 
in  a  tone  that  was  not  to  be  denied. 

She  delivered  her  sentence  quickly.  "She  loves 
Ben.  Haven't  you  seen  it?  She  has  loved  him  from 
their  first  meeting.  I  have  known  it  for  a  long  time, 
almost  from  the  first;  now  everybody  knows  it,  and 
the  society  reporters  are  beginning  their  innuendoes. 
The  next  thing  will  be  her  picture  in  the  sensational 
press,  and  a  scandal.  Don't  you  know  this?  It  must 
not  happen!  We  must  make  way  for  them — you  and 
I.  We  cumber  the  path." 

He  sank  back  into  his  seat  and  studied  her  from  be 
neath  his  overhanging  eyebrows  as  intently,  as  alertly, 
as  silently  as  he  was  wont  to  do  when  watching  the 
faces  of  his  opponents  in  a  game  of  high  hazard.  There 
was  something  uncanny,  almost  elfish,  in  the  woman's 
voice  and  eyes,  and  yet  even  before  her  words  were 
fully  uttered  the  truth  stood  revealed  to  him.  His  eyes 
lost  their  stern  glare,  his  hands,  which  had  clutched  the 
arms  of  his  chair,  relaxed.  "Are  you  sure?"  he  asked 
again,  but  more  gently.  "You've  got  to  be  sure,"  he 
ended,  almost  in  menace. 

"You  may  trust  a  jealous  woman,"  she  answered. 
"I  don't  blame  them — observe  that.  We  are  the  ones 
to  blame — we  who  are  crippled  and  in  the  way,  and  it 

316 


MONEY    MAGIC 

is  our  duty  to  take  ourselves  off.  What  is  the  use  of 
spoiling  their  lives  just  for  a  few  years  of  selfish  grati 
fication  of  our  own  miserable  selves?" 

He  felt  about  for  comfort.  "They  are  young;  they 
can  wait,"  he  stammered,  huskily. 

"But  they  won't  wait!"  she  replied.  "Love  like 
theirs  can't  wait.  Don't  you  understand?  They  are 
in  danger  of  forgetting  themselves?  Can't  you  see  it? 
Ben  talks  of  nothing  else,  dreams  of  nothing  else  but 
her,  and  she  is  fighting  temptation  every  day,  and  shows 
it.  It's  all  so  plain  to  me  that  I  can't  bear  to  see  them 
together.  They  have  loved  each  other  from  the  very 
first  night  they  met — I  felt  it  that  day  we  first  rode  to 
gether.  I've  watched  her  grow  into  Ben's  life  till  she 
absorbs  his  every  thought.  He's  a  good  boy,  and  I 
want  to  keep  him  so.  He  respects  your  claim,  and  he  is 
trying  to  be  loyal  to  me,  but  he  can't  hold  out.  I  am 
ready  to  sacrifice  myself,  but  that  would  not  save  him. 
He  loves  your  wife,  and  until  you  free  her  he  is  in 
danger  of  wronging  her  and  himself  and  you.  I've 
given  up.  There  is  nothing  more  on  this  earth  for  me! 
What  do  you  expect  to  gain  by  holding  to  a  wife's  gar 
ment  when  she — the  woman — is  gone?" 

The  wildness  in  her  eyes  and  voice  profoundly  af 
fected  Haney,  who  was  without  subtlety  in  affairs  of 
the  heart.  The  women  he  had  known  had  been  mainly 
coarse -fibred  or  of  brutish  directness  of  passion  and 
purpose,  and  this  woman's  words  and  tone  at  once  con 
fused  and  appalled  him.  All  she  said  of  his  unworthi- 
ness  as  a  husband  was  true.  He  had  gone  to  Sibley 
at  first  to  win  Bertha  at  less  cost  than  making  her  his 
wife — but  of  that  he  had  repented,  and  on  his  death 
bed  (as  he  thought)  he  had  sought  to  endow  her  with 
his  gold.  Since  then  he  had  lived,  but  only  as  half  a 


MONEY    MAGIC 

man.  Up  to  this  moment  he  had  hoped  to  regain  his 
health,  but  now  every  hope  died  within  him. 

Part  of  this  he  admitted  at  once,  but  he  ended 
brokenly:  "'Tis  a  hard  task  you  set  for  me.  She's 
the  vein  of  me  bosom.  'Tis  easy  talkin',  but  the  doin' 
is  like  takin'  y'r  heart  in  your  two  hands  and  throwin'  it 
away.  I  knew  she  liked  the  lad — I  had  no  doubt  the 
lad  liked  her — but  I  did  not  believe  she'd  go  to  him  so. 
I  can't  believe  it  yet — but  I  will  not  stand  in  her  way. 
As  I  told  her,  I  did  not  expect  to  tie  her  to  an  old  hulk ; 
I  thought  I  was  dying  when  I  married  her,  and  I  only 
had  the  ceremony  then  to  make  sure  that  me  money 
should  feed  her  and  protect  her  from  the  storms  of  the 
world.  I  wanted  to  take  her  out  of  a  hole  where  she  was 
sore  pressed,  and  I  wanted  to  make  her  people  com 
fortable.  I've  brought  her  to  this  house.  Me  money 
has  always  been  to  her  hand.  It  rejoices  me  to  see  her 
spend  it,  and  I've  been  hoping  that  these  things — me 
money — would  make  up  for  me  poor,  old,  crippled  body. 
I've  been  a  rough  man.  I  lived  as  men  who  have  no  ties 
have  always  lived — till  I  met  her,  then  I  quit  the  game. 
I  put  aside  everything  that  could  make  her  ashamed. 
I'm  no  toad,  miss — I  know  she  has  that  in  her  soul  that 
can  take  her  out  of  my  level.  Were  I  twenty  years 
younger  and  a  well  man  I  could  folly  her — but  'tis  no 
use  debating  now.  I'll  talk  with  her  this  night — " 
He  paused  abruptly  and  turned  upon  her  with 
piercing  inquiry:  "Have  you  discussed  this  with 
Ben?" 

She  was  beginning  to  tremble  in  face  of  the  storm 
which  she  foresaw  looming  before  her.  ' '  No — I  lacked 
the  courage." 

A  faintly  bitter  smile  stirred  his  upper  lip.  "Shall 
I  tell  him  what  you  have  said  to  me?" 


MONEY    MAGIC 

"No,  no!"  she  exclaimed,  in  sudden  affright,  "I  will 
tell  him." 

"Be  sure  ye  do.  As  for  these  editors,  I  have  me  own 
way  of  dealing  with  them.  I  will  soon  know  whether 
you  are  right  or  wrong.  Ye 're  a  sick  woman,  and  such, 
they  say,  have  queer  fancies.  You  admit  you're  jeal 
ous,  and  I've  heard  that  jealous  women  are  built  of 
hell-fire  and  vitriol.  Annyhow,  you've  not  shaken  me 
faith  in  me  girl — but  ye  have  in  Ben,  for  I  know  the 
heart  of  man.  We're  all  alike  when  it  comes  to  the 
question  of  women." 

"Please  don't  misunderstand  me — it  is  to  keep  them 
both  what  they  are,  good  and  true,  that  I  come  to  you 
— we  must  not  tempt  them  to  evil." 

"I  understand  what  you  say,  miss,  and  I  think  you're 
honest,  but  you  may  be  mistaken.  I  saw  her  meet-up 
with  fine  young  fellies  in  the  East ;  I  could  see  they  ad 
mired  her — but  she  turned  them  down  easily.  She's 
no  weak-minded  chippy,  as  I  know  on  me  own  account 
— the  more  shame  to  me." 

"Of  course  she  turns  others  down,  for  the  reason  that 
Ben  fills  her  heart."  She  began  to  weary  of  her  self- 
imposed  task. 

He,  too,  was  tired.  "We'll  see,  we'll  see,"  he  re 
peated  musingly,  and  gazed  away  towards  the  cloud- 
enshrouded  peaks  in  sombre  silence — the  lines  of  his 
lips  as  sorrowful  as  those  of  an  old  lion  dying  in  the 
desert,  arrow- smitten  and  alone.  He  had  forgotten 
the  hand  that  pierced  his  heart. 

Thus  dismissed,  she  rose,  her  eyes  burning  like  deep 
opals  in  the  parchment  setting  of  her  skin. 

"Life  is  so  cruel!"  she  said.  "I  have  wished  a  thou 
sand  times  that  love  had  never  come  to  me.  Love  means 
only  sorrow  at  the  end.  Ben  has  been  my  life,  my 


MONEY    MAGIC 

only  interest — and  now — as  he  begins  to  forget —  Oh 
I  can't  bear  it!  It  will  kill  me!"  She  sank  back  into 
her  chair,  and,  burying  her  face,  sobbed  with  such  pas 
sion  that  her  slight  frame  shook  in  the  tempest  of  it. 

Haney  turned  and  looked  at  her  in  silence — profound 
ly  stirred  to  pity  by  her  sobs,  no  longer  doubting  the 
reality  of  her  despair.  When  he  spoke  his  voice  was 
brokenly  sweet  and  very  tender. 

'  Tis  a  bitter  world,  miss,  and  me  heart  bleeds  for 
such  as  you.  Tis  well  ye  have  a  hope  of  paradise,  for, 
if  all  you  say  is  true,  ye  must  go  from  this  world  cheat 
ed  and  hungry  like  meself .  Ye  have  one  comfort  that 
I  have  not — 'tis  not  your  own  doing.  Ye've  not  mis 
spent  your  life  as  I  have  done.  What  does  it  all  show 
but  that  life  is  a  game  where  each  man,  good  or 
bad,  takes  his  chance.  The  cards  fall  against  you  and 
against  me  without  care  of  what  we  are.  I  can  only 
say  I  take  me  chances  as  I  take  the  rain  and  the  sun." 

Her  paroxysm  passed  and  she  rose  again,  drawing 
her  veil  closely  over  her  face.  "Good-bye.  We  will 
never  meet  again." 

"Don't  say  that,"  he  said,  struggling  painfully  to  his 
feet.  "Never  is  a  long  time,  and  good-bye  a  cruel,  sad 
word  to  say.  Let's  call  it  'so  long'  and  better  luck." 

"You  are  not  angry  with  me?"  she  turned  to  ask. 

"Not  at  all,  miss — I  thank  ye  fer  opening  me  eyes 
to  me  selfishness." 

"Good-bye." 

"So  long!  And  may  ye  have  better  luck  in  the  new 
deal,  miss." 

As  she  turned  at  the  gate  she  saw  him  standing  as  she 
had  left  him,  his  brow  white  and  sad  and  stern,  his 
shoulders  drooping  as  if  his  strength  and  love  of  life 
had  suddenly  been  withdrawn. 

320 


MONEY    MAGIC 

While  still  in  this  mood  she  sent  word  to  Ben  that  she 
wished  to  see  him  at  once,  and  he  responded  without 
delay. 

He  was  appalled  by  the  change  in  her.  Her  inter 
view  with  Haney  had  profoundly  weakened  her,  chilled 
her.  She  was  like  some  exquisite  lamp  whose  golden 
flame  had  grown  suddenly  dim,  and  Fordyce  was  filled 
with  instant,  remorseful  tenderness.  His  sense  of  duty 
sprang  to  arms,  and  without  waiting  for  her  to  begin  he 
said:  "I  hate  to  think  of  you  as  a  pensioner  in  this 
house.  You  should  be  in  your  own  home — our  home — 
where  I  could  take  care  of  you.  Come,  let  me  take  you 
out  of  this  private  hospital— that's  what  it  is." 

She  struggled  piteously  to  assure  him  that  she  would 
be  back  to  par  in  a  few  days,  but  he  was  thoroughly 
alarmed  and  refused  to  listen  to  further  delay. 

"Your  surroundings  are  bad,  you  need  a  change." 

She  read  him  to  the  soul,  knew  that  this  argument 
sprang  not  from  love,  but  from  pity  and  self -accusation ; 
therefore,  forcing  a  light  tone,  she  answered:  "I  don't 
feel  able  to  take  command  of  a  cook  and  second  girl 
just  yet,  Bennie  dear;  besides,  you're  all  wrong  about 
this  being  a  bad  atmosphere  for  me.  I'm  horribly  com 
fortable  here,  my  own  sister  couldn't  be  kinder  than 
Julia  is.  No,  no,  wait  a  few  months  longer  till  you  get 
settled  a  little  more  securely  in  business;  I  may  pick 
up  a  volt  or  two  more  of  electricity  by  that  time."  Then 
as  she  saw  his  face  darken  and  a  tremor  run  over  his 
flesh,  she  lost  her  self-control  and  broke  forth  with 
sudden,  bitter  intensity:  "Why  don't  you  throw  me 
over  and  marry  some  nice  girl  with  a  healthy  body  and 
sane  mind  ?  Why  cheat -your self  and  me  ?" 

He  recoiled  before  her  question,  too  amazed  to  do 
more  than  exclaim  against  her  going  on. 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

She  was  not  to  be  checked.  "Let  us  be  honest  with 
ourselves.  You  know  perfectly  well  I'm  never  going 
to  get  better — I  do,  if  you  don't.  I  may  linger  on  in 
this  way  for  years,  but  I  will  never  be  anything  but  a 
querulous  invalid.  Now  that's  the  bitter  truth.  You 
mustn't  marry  me — I  won't  let  you!"  Then  her  mood 
changed.  "And  yet  it's  so  hard  to  go  on  alone — even 
for  a  little  way." 

Her  eyes  closed  on  her  hot  tears,  her  head  drooped, 
and  Ben,  putting  his  arm  about  her  neck  and  pressing 
her  quivering  face  against  his  breast,  reproached  her 
very  tenderly:  "I  won't  let  you  say  such  things,  dear 
est — you  must  not!  You're  not  yourself  to-day." 

"Oh  yes,  I  am!  My  mind  is  very  clear,  too  horribly 
clear.  Ben  dear,  I  mean  all  I  say — you  shall  not  link 
yourself  to  me.  I  have  no  delusions  now.  I'll  never 
be  well  again — and  you  must  know  it." 

"Oh  yes,  you  will!  Don't  give  up!  You're  only 
tired  to-day.  You're  really  much  better  than  you 
were  last  week." 

"No,  I'm  not!  Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves  any 
longer.  The  change  of  climate  has  not  done  me  good. 
We  waited  too  long.  It  has  all  been  a  mistake.  Let 
me  go  back  to  Chester — I'm  afraid  to  die  out  here.  I 
can't  bear  the  thought  of  being  buried  in  this  soil.  It's 
so  bleak  and  lonely  and  alien.  I  want  to  go  back  to  the 
sweet,  kindly  hills — perhaps  I  can  reconcile  myself  to 
death  there — to  sink  into  the  earth  on  this  plain  is  too 
dreadful." 

He  struggled  against  the  weight  of  her  sorrowful 
pleadings.  "This  is  only  a  mood,  dearest;  you  are 
over-tired  and  things  look  black  to  you — I  have  such 
days — everybody  has  these  hours  of  depression,  but  we 
must  fight  them.  It  would  be  so  much  better  for  us 

322 


MONEY    MAGIC 

both  if  I  were  your  husband,  then  I  could  be  with  you  and 
watch  over  you  every  hour.  I  could  help  you  fight  these 
dismal  moods.  It  would  be  my  hourly  care.  Come, 
let's  go  out  and  seriously  set  to  work  to  find  a  cottage." 

She  was  silenced  for  the  moment,  but  when  he  had 
finished  his  counter-plea  she  looked  up  at  him  with 
deep-set  glance  and  quietly  said:  "Ben,  it's  all  wrong. 
It  was  wrong  from  the  very  beginning.  You  are  lash 
ing  yourself  into  uttering  these  beautiful  words,  and  you 
do  not  realize  what  you  are  saying.  I  am  too  old  for 
you —  Now  listen — it's  true!  I'm  twenty  years  older 
in  spirit.  I  haven't  been  really  well  for  ten  years.  You 
talk  of  fighting  this.  Haven't  I  fought?  I've  danced 
when  I  should  have  been  in  bed.  I've  had  a  premonition 
of  early  decay  for  years — that's  why  I've  been  so  reck 
less  of  my  strength.  I  couldn't  bear  to  let  my  youth 
pass  dully — and  now  it's  gone!  Wait! — I've  deceived 
you  in  other  ways.  I've  been  full  of  black  thoughts, 
I've  been  jealous  and  selfish  all  along.  You  deserve  the 
loveliest  girl  in  the  world,  and  it  is  a  cruel  shame  for 
me  to  stand  in  the  way  of  your  happiness  just  to  have 
you  light  my  darkness  for  a  few  hours.  I  know  what 
you  want  to  say — you  think  you  can  be  happy  with  me. 
Ben,  it's  only  your  foolish  sense  of  honor  that  keeps 
you  loyal  to  me — I  don't  want  that — I  won't  have  it! 
Take  back  your  pledge."  She  pushed  away  from  him 
and  twisted  a  ring  from  her  finger.  "Take  this,  dear 
boy,  you  are  absolutely  free.  Go  and  be  happy." 

He  drew  back  from  her  hand  in  pain  and  bewilder 
ment.  ' '  Alice,  you  are  crazy  to  say  such  things  to  me." 
He  studied  her  with  suffering  in  his  eyes.  "You  are 
delirious.  I  am  going  to  send  the  doctor  to  you  at  once. " 

"No,  I'm  not  delirious.  I  know  only  too  well  what 
I'm  saying — I  have  made  my  decision.  I  will  never 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

wear  this  ring  again."     vShe  turned  his  words  against 
himself.     "You  must  not  marry  a  crazy  woman." 

"I  didn't  mean  that — you  know  what  I  meant.  All 
you  say  is  morbid  and  unreasonable,  and  I  will  not 
listen  to  it.  You  are  clouded  by  some  sick  fancy  to 
day,  and  I  will  go  away  and  send  a  physician  to  cure 
you  of  your  madness." 

She  thrust  the  ring  into  his  hand  and  rose,  her  face 
tense,  her  eyes  wonderfully  big  and  luminous.  She 
seemed  at  the  moment  to  renew  her  health  and  to  re 
cover  the  imperious  grace  of  her  radiant  youth  as  she 
exaltedly  said:  "Now  I  am  free!  You  must  ask  me 
all  over  again — and  when  you  do,  I  will  say  no." 

He  sat  looking  up  at  her,  too  bewildered,  too  much 
alarmed  to  find  words  for  reply.  He  really  thought 
that  she  had  gone  suddenly  mad — and  yet  all  that  she 
said  was  frightfully  reasonable.  In  his  heart  he  knew 
that  she  was  uttering  the  truth.  Their  marriage  was 
now  impossible — a  bridal  veil  over  that  face  was  hor 
rifying  to  think  upon. 

She  went  on:  "Now  run  away — I'm  going  to  cry  in  a 
moment  and  I  don't  want  you  to  see  me  do  it.  Please 
go!" 

He  rose  stiffly,  and  when  he  spoke  his  voice  was  quiv 
ering  with  anxiety.  "I  am  going  to  send  Julia  to  you 
instantly." 

"No,  you're  not.  I  won't  see  her  if  you  do.  She 
can't  help  me — nobody  can,  but  you — and  I  won't  let 
you  even  see  me  any  more.  I'm  going  home  to 
Chester  to-morrow;  so  kiss  me  good-bye — and  go." 

He  kissed  her  and  went  blindly  out,  their  engagement 
ring  tightly  clinched  in  his  hand.  It  seemed  as  if  a 
wide,  cold,  gray  cloud  had  (for  the  first  time)  entirely 
covered  his  sunny,  youthful  world, 

324 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

MARSHALL    HANEY's    SENTENCE 

A^TER  Alice  Heath's  carriage  had  driven  away, 
Haney  returned  to  his  chair,  and  with  eyes  fixed 
upon  the  distant  peaks  gave  himself  up  to  a  review  of 
all  that  the  sick  woman  had  said,  and  entered  also 
upon  a  forecast  of  the  game. 

He  was  not  entirely  unprepared  for  her  revelation. 
He  was,  indeed,  too  wise  not  to  know  that  Bertha  must 
sometime  surely  find  in  another  and  younger  man  her 
heart's  hunger,  but  his  wish  had  set  that  dark  day  far 
away  in  the  future.  Moreover,  he  had  relied  on  her 
promise  to  confide  in  him,  and  it  hurt  him  to  think  that 
she  had  not  fulfilled  her  pledge;  yet  even  in  this  he 
sought  excuses  for  her. 

"She  may  love  him  without  knowing  it.  Annyhow, 
he's  a  fine  young  lad,  far  better  for  her  than  an  old 
shoulder- shot  cayuse  like  meself."  His  sense  of  un- 
worthiness  became  the  solvent  of  other  and  sweeter 
emotions.  His  wealth  no  longer  seemed  capable  of 
bridging  the  deep  chasm  widening  between  them. 

This  day  had  shown  a  black  sky  to  him,  even  before 
Alice  Heath's  disturbing  call,  for  Bertha  had  been 
darkly  brooding  at  breakfast,  and  silent  at  lunch,  and 
immediately  after  rising  from  the  table  had  gone  away 
alone,  without  a  word  of  explanation  to  any  member  of 
her  household.  She  had  not  even  taken  her  dogs  with 

325 


MONEY    MAGIC 

her,  and  her  face  was  set  and  almost  sullen  as  she  passed 
out  of  the  door  and  down  the  walk.  All  this  was  so 
unlike  her  that  Mart  was  greatly  troubled.  It  gave 
weight  and  significance  to  every  word  of  Alice  Heath's 
warning. 

Bertha  was  gone  till  nearly  six  o'clock,  and  her  mood 
seemed  no  whit  lightened  as  she  entered  the  gate  and 
came  slowly  up  the  walk.  To  Mart's  humbly  spoken 
query,  "What  troubles  ye,  darlin'  ?"  she  made  no  reply, 
but  went  at  once  to  her  room. 

The  old  gambler  seemed  pitiably  helpless  and  forlorn 
as  he  sat  there  in  his  accustomed  chair  waiting  her 
return.  The  bees  and  birds  were  busy  among  the  vines, 
and  all  the  well-oiled  machinery  of  his  splendid  home 
was  going  forward  to  the  end  that  his  sweet  girl-wife 
should  be  served.  If  she  were  unhappy,  of  what  value 
were  these  soft  rugs,  these  savory  dishes,  this  shining 
silver?  There  was,  in  truth,  something  mocking  and 
terrifying  in  the  swift,  well- trained  action  of  the  ser 
vants,  who  went  about  their  tasks  unmoved  and  ap 
parently  unacquainted  with  any  change  in  the  mind 
of  their  young  mistress. 

In  the  kitchen  the  cook  was  carefully  compounding 
the  soup  while  watching  the  roast.  Lucius,  deft  and 
absorbed,  was  preparing  the  table,  arranging  the  coffee 
service  and  deciding  upon  the  china.  On  the  seat  under 
the  pear-trees  Miss  Franklin  was  chatting  with  Mrs. 
Oilman,  and  in  the  barn  the  coachman  could  be  heard 
giving  the  horses  their  evening  taste  of  green  grass — 
"and  yet  how  empty,  aimless,  and  foolish  it  all  is  if 
Bertha  is  unhappy,"  thought  the  master. 

He  grew  alarmed  for  fear  she  would  not  come  down ; 
but  at  last  he  heard  her  light  step  on  the  stairs,  and 
when  she  came  in  view  his  dim  eyes  were  startled  by 

326 


MONEY    MAGIC 

the  transformation  in  her.  She  had  put  on  the  plainest 
of  her  gowns,  and  she  wore  no  jewels.  By  other  ways 
which  he  felt  but  could  not  analyze  she  expressed  some 
portentous  shift  of  mood.  He  could  not  define  why, 
but  her  step  scared  him,  so  measured  and  resolute  it 
seemed. 

She  called  to  her  mother  and  Miss  Franklin  and  then 
asked,  "Has  dinner  been  announced?" 

Her  tone  was  quiet  and  natural,  and  Mart  was 
relieved.  He  answered  with  attempt  at  jocularity, 
"Lucius  is  this  minute  winkin'  at  me  over  the  soup- 
tureen." 

As  they  took  seats  at  the  table  Mrs.  Oilman  ex 
claimed,  "Why,  dearie,  where  did  you  dig  up  that  old 
waist?" 

"Will  it  do  to  visit  Sibley  in?" 

"No  indeed!  I  should  say  not.  When  you  go  back 
there  I  want  you  to  wear  the  best  you've  got.  They'll 
consider  it  an  insult  if  you  don't." 

A  faint  smile  lighted  Bertha's  pale  face.  "I  don't 
think  they'll  take  it  so  hard  as  all  that." 

"Are  you  goin'  to  Sibley?"  asked  Mart,  an  anxious 
tone  in  his  voice. 

"I  thought  of  it.  Mother  is  going  over  to-night,  and 
I  rather  guess  I'll  run  over  with  her.  I've  never  been 
back,  you  see,  since  that  night." 

There  was  something  ominous  in  her  restraint,  in  her 
abstraction  of  glance,  and  especially  in  her  lack  of 
appetite.  She  took  little  account  of  her  guests  and 
seemed  profoundly  engaged  upon  some  inward  calcula 
tion.  The  beautifully  spread  table,  which  would  have 
thrilled  her  a  few  short  weeks  ago,  was  powerless  to 
even  hold  her  gaze,  and  it  was  Lucius  (deft  and  watch 
ful)  who  brought  the  meal  to  a  successful  conclusion — 

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MONEY    MAGIC 

for  the  mother  was  awed  and  helpless  in  the  presence 
of  the  queenly  daughter  whom  wealth  had  translated 
into  something  almost  too  high  and  shining  for  her  to 
lay  hand  upon. 

Miss  Franklin  did  her  best,  but  she  was  not  a  person 
of  light  and  dancing  intellectual  feet,  and  she  had  never 
understood  Haney,  anyhow.  Altogether  it  was  a  dis 
mal  and  difficult  half-hour. 

When  the  coffee  came  on  Bertha  rose  abruptly,  say 
ing,  "Come  out  into  the  garden,  Mart,  I've  got  some 
thing  to  say  to  you." 

He  obeyed  with  a  sense  of  being  called  to  account, 
and  as  they  walked  slowly  across  the  grass,  which  the 
light  of  a  vivid  orange  sunset  had  made  transcendent- 
ly  green,  he  glanced  to  the  west  with  foreboding  that 
this  was  the  last  time  he  should  look  upon  the  kingly 
peak  at  sunset  time.  A  flaming  helmet  of  cloud  shone 
upon  the  chief,  and  all  the  lesser  heights  were  a  deep, 
purple  bank  out  of  which  each  serrate  summit  rose 
without  perspective,  sharply  set  against  the  other  like 
a  monstrous  silhouette  of  cardboard. 

It  should  have  been  indeed  a  very  sweet  and  odorous 
and  peaceful  hour.  The  murmur  of  the  water  from 
the  fountain  had  the  lulling  sound  of  a  hive  of  bees 
as  they  settle  to  rest,  and  to  the  suffering  man  it  seemed 
impossible  that  this,  his  cherished  world,  could  change 
to  the  black  chaos  which  the  loss  of  his  adorable  wife 
would  bring  upon  it. 

The  settee  was  of  wire,  and  curved  so  that  when  they 
had  taken  seats  they  faced  each  other,  and  the  sight 
of  her,  so  slender,  so  graceful,  so  womanly,  filled  him 
with  a  fury  of  hate  against  the  assassin  who  had  torn 
him  to  pieces,  making  him  old  before  his  time,  a  cripple, 
impotent,  inert,  and  scarred. 

328 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Bertha  did  not  wait  for  him  to  begin,  and  her  first 
words  smote  like  bullets.  "Mart,  I'm  going  back  to 
Sibley." 

He  looked  at  her  with  startled  eyes  —  his  brow 
wrinkling  into  sorrowful  lines.  "For  how  long?" 

"I  don't  know — it  may  be  a  good  while.  I'm  going 
away  to  think  things  over."  Then  she  added,  firmly, 
"I  may  not  come  back  at  all,  Mart." 

"For  God's  sake,  don't  say  that,  girlie!  You  don't 
mean  that!"  His  voice  was  husky  with  the  agony  that 
filled  his  throat.  "I  can't  live  without  ye  now.  Don't 
go — that  way." 

"I've  got  to  go,  Mart.  My  mind  ain't  made  up  to 
this  proposition.  I  don't  know  about  living  with  you 
any  more." 

"Why  not?  What's  the  matter,  darlin' ?  Can't  ye 
put  up  with  me  a  little  longer?  I  know  I'm  only  a 
piece  of  a  man — but  tell  me  the  truth.  Can't  you  stay 
with  me — as  we  are?" 

She  met  him  with  the  truth,  but  not  the  whole  truth. 
"Everybody  thinks  I  married  you  for  your  money, 
Mart — it  ain't  true — but  the  evidence  is  all  against  me. 
The  only  way  to  prove  it  a  lie  is  to  just  naturally  pull 
out  and  go  back  to  work.  I  hate  to  leave,  so  long  as 
you — feel  about  me  as  you  do — but,  Mart,  I'm  'bleeged' 
to  do  it.  My  mind  is  so  stirred  up — I  don't  enjoy  any 
thing  any  more.  I  used  to  like  everything  in  the  house 
— all  my  nice  things — the  dresses  and  trinkets  you  gave 
me.  It  was  fun  to  run  the  kitchen — now  it  all  goes 
against  the  grain  some  way.  Fact  is,  none  of  it  seems 
mine." 

His  eyes  were  wet  with  tears  as  he  said:  "It's  all 
my  fault.  It's  all  because  of  what  I  said  last  night — " 

She  stopped  him.  "No,  it  ain't  that — it  ain't  your 
329 


MONEY    MAGIC 

fault,  it's  mine.  Something's  gone  wrong  with  me. 
I  love  this  home,  and  my  dogs  and  horses  and  all — and 
yet  I  can't  enjoy  'em  any  more.  They  don't  belong  to 
me — now  that's  the  fact,  Mart." 

"I'll  make  'em  yours,  darlin',  I'll  deed  'em  all  over 
to  you." 

"No,  no,  that  won't  do  it.  My  mind  has  got  to 
change.  It's  all  in  my  mind.  Don't  you  see?  I've 
got  to  get  away  from  the  whole  outfit  and  think  it  all 
out.  If  I  can  come  back  I  will,  but  you  mustn't  bank 
on  my  return,  Mart.  You  mustn't  be  surprised  if  I 
settle  on  the  other  side  of  the  range." 

"I  know,"  he  said,  sadly.  "I  know  your  reason  and 
I  don't  blame  you.  Tis  not  for  an  old  derelict  like 
me  to  hold  you — but  you  must  let  me  give  you  some 
of  me  money — 'tis  of  no  value  to  me  now.  If  ye  do 
not  let  me  share  it  with  you  me  heart  will  break  en 
tirely." 

"I  haven't  a  right  to  a  cent  of  it,  Mart — I  owe  you 
more  than  I  can  ever  pay.  No,  I  can't  afford  to  take 
another  cent." 

In  the  pause  which  followed  his  face  took  on  a  look 
of  new  resolution.  "Bertie,  I've  had  something  happen 
to  me  to-day.  I've  learned  something  I  should  have 
known  long  since." 

Her  look  of  surprise  deepened  into  dismay  as  he  went 
on:  "I  know  what's  the  matter  with  you,  girlie.  'Tis 
after  seeing  Ben  your  face  always  shines.  You  love 
him,  Bertie — and  I  don't  blame  you — " 

A  carriage  driving  up  to  the  gate  brought  diversion, 
and  she  sprang  up,  her  face  flushed,  her  eyes  big  and 
scared.  "There  comes  Dr.  Steele!  I'd  plumb  forgot 
about  his  call." 

' '  So  had  I,"  he  answered,  as  he  rose  to  meet  his  visitor. 
330 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Dr.  Steele,  a  gray-haired,  vigorous  man,  entered  the 
gate  and  came  hurriedly  up  the  path,  something  fateful 
in  his  stride.  He  greeted  them  both  casually,  smile- 
lessly.  "I've  got  to  get  that  next  train,"  he  announced, 
mechanically  looking  at  his  watch,  "and  that  leaves  me 
just  twenty  minutes  in  which  to  thump  you." 

Bertha  was  in  awe  of  this  blunt,  tactless  man  of 
science,  and  as  they  moved  towards  the  house  listened 
in  chilled  silence  while  he  continued:  "Brent  writes 
me  that  you  were  doing  pretty  well  down  by  the  lake. 
Why  didn't  you  stay?  He  says  he  advised  you  .not  to 
come  back." 

"This  is  me  home,"  answered  Haney,  simply. 

Lucius  took  Bertha's  place  at  Mart's  shoulder  and 
the  three  men  went  into  the  library,  leaving  her  to  wait 
outside  in  anxious  solitude.  There  was  something  in 
the  doctor's  manner  which  awed  her,  rilled  her  with 
new  conceptions,  new  duties. 

Steele  was  one  of  these  cold-blooded  practitioners  who 
do  not  believe  in  the  old-fashioned  manner.  "Cheery 
suggestion"  was  nonsense  to  him.  His  examination 
was  to  Bertha,  as  to  Haney,  a  dreaded  ordeal.  How 
ever,  Brent  had  advised  it,  and  they  had  agreed  to 
submit  to  it,  and  now  here  he  was,  and  upon  his  judg 
ment  she  must  rest. 

For  half  an  hour  she  waited  in  the  hall,  almost  with 
out  moving,  so  far-reaching  did  this  verdict  promise  to 
be.  Her  anxiety  deepened  into  fear  as  Steele  came  out 
of  the  room  and  walked  rapidly  towards  her.  "He's 
a  very  sick  man,"  he  burst  forth,  irritably.  "Get  him 
away  from  here  as  quickly  as  you  can — but  don't  excite 
him.  Don't  let  him  exert  himself  at  all  till  you  reach 
a  lower  altitude.  Keep  him  quiet  and  peaceful,  and 
don't  let  him  clog  himself  up  with  starchy  food — and 


MONEY    MAGIC 

above  all,  keep  liquors  away  from  him.  He  shouldn't 
have  come  back  here  at  all.  Brent  warned  him  that  he 
couldn't  live  up  here.  Slide  him  down  to  sea-level — 
if  he'll  go — and  take  care  of  him.  His  heart  will  run 
along  all  right  if  he  don't  overtax  it.  He'll  last  for 
years  at  sea-level." 

"He  hates  to  leave — he  says  he  won't  leave,"  she 
explained. 

The  man  of  science  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "All 
right!  He  can  lake  his  choice  of  roads" — he  used  an 
expressive  gesture — "up  or  down.  One  leads  to  the 
New  Jerusalem  and  is  short — as  he'll  find  out  if  he 
stays  here.  Good-night!  I  must  get  that  train." 

"Wait  a  minute!"  she  called  after  him.  "Is  there 
anything  I  can  do?  Did  you  leave  any  medicine?" 

He  turned  and  came  back.  "Yes,  a  temporary 
stimulant,  but  medicine  is  of  little  use.  If  you  can  get 
away  to-morrow,  you  do  it." 

She  stood  a  few  minutes  at  the  library  door  listening, 
waiting,  and  at  last  (hearing  no  sound),  opened  the 
door  decisively  and  went  in. 

Haney,  ghastly  pale,  in  limp  dejection,  almost  in  col 
lapse,  was  seated  in  an  easy-chair,  with  Lucius  hold 
ing  a  glass  to  his  lips.  He  was  stripped  to  his  under 
shirt  and  looked  like  a  defeated,  gray  old  gladiator, 
fallen  helpless  in  the  arena,  deserted  by  all  the  world 
save  his  one  faithful  servant — and  Bertha's  heart  was 
wrenched  with  a  deep  pang  of  pity  and  remorse  as  she 
gazed  at  him.  The  doctor's  warning  became  a  com 
mand.  To  desert  him  in  returning  health  was  bad 
enough,  to  desert  him  now  was  impossible. 

Running  to  him,  all  her  repugnance  gone,  all  her 
tenderness  awake,  she  put  her  arm  about  his  shoulders. 
"Oh,  Mart,  did  he  hurt  you?  Are  you  worse?" 

332 


H 


ALL    HER    REPUGNANCE    GONE,     SHE     PUT    HER    ARM    ABOUT    HIS 
SHOULDERS 


MONEY    MAGIC 

He  raised  dim  eyes  to  her,  eyes  that  seemed  already 
filmed  with  death's  opaque  curtains,  but  bravely, 
slowly  smiled.  "I'm  down  but  not  out,  darlin'.  That 
brute  of  a  doctor  jolted  me  hard;  I  nearly  took  the 
count — but  I'm — still  in  the  ring.  Harness  me  up, 
Lucius.  I'll  show  that  sawbones  the  power  of  mind 
over  matter — the  ould  croaker!" 

He  recovered  rapidly  and  was  soon  able  to  stagger 
to  his  feet.  Then,  with  a  return  of  his  wonted  humor, 
he  stretched  out  his  big  right  arm.  "I'm  not  to  be  put 
out  of  business  by  wan  punch  from  an  old  puddin'  like 
Steele.  I  am  not  the  'stiff'  he  thinks.  He  had  me  agin 
the  ropes,  'tis  true,  but  I'll  surprise  him  yet." 

"What  did  he  say?"  she  persisted  in  demanding. 

He  shook  his  head.  "That's  bechune  the  two  of  us," 
he  nodded  warningly  at  Lucius.  "For  one  thing,  he 
says  me  heart  can't  stand  the  high  country.  'It's  you 
to  the  deep  valley,'  says  he." 

Her  decision  was  ready.     "All  right,  then  we  go!" 

He  faced  her  quickly.  "Did  ye  say  WE,  Bertie? 
Did  ye  say  it,  sweetheart?" 

"I  did,  Mart — I've  changed  my  mind  once  more. 
I'm  goin'  to  stick  by  you — till  you're  settled  some 
where.  I  won't  leave  till  you're  better." 

The  tears  blinded  his  eyes  again,  and  his  lips  twitched. 
"You're  God's  own  angel,  Bertie,  but  I  don't  deserve  it. 
No,  stay  you  here — I'm  not  worth  your  sacrifice.  No, 
no,  I  can't  have  it!  Stay  here  with  Ben  and  look  after 
the  mines." 

Her  face  settled  in  lines  that  were  not  girlish  as  she 
repeated:  "It's  up  to  me  to  go,  and  I'm  going,  Mart! 
I  didn't  realize  how  bad  it  was  for  you  here — I  didn't, 
really!" 

"It's  all  wrong,  I'm  afraid  —  all  wrong,"  he  an- 
333 


MONEY    MAGIC 

swered,  "but  the  Lord  knows  I  need  you  worse  than 
ever." 

"Shut  off  on  all  that!"  she  commanded.  "Lucius, 
help  me  take  him  outside  where  the  air  is  better." 

Mart  put  the  man  away.  "One  is  enough,"  he  said, 
brusquely;  and  so,  leaning  on  his  strong,  young  wife,  he 
went  slowly  out  into  the  dusk  where  the  mother  and 
Miss  Franklin  were  sitting,  quite  unconscious  of  the 
deep  significance  of  the  doctor's  visit.  "Not  a  word 
to  them,"  warned  Haney — "at  any  rate,  not  to-night." 

They  were  now  both  facing  the  pain  of  instantly 
abandoning  all  these  beautiful  and  ministering  material 
conditions  which  money  had  called  round  them.  It 
seemed  so  foolish,  so  incredibly  silly — this  mandate  of 
the  physician.  Could  any  place  on  the  earth  be  more 
healthful,  more  helpful  to  human  life  than  this  wide- 
porched,  cool-hailed  house,  this  garden,  this  air  ?  What 
difference  could  a  few  thousand  feet  make  on  the 
heart's  action? 

The  thought  of  putting  away  all  hope  of  seeing  Ben 
Fordyce  came  at  last  to  overtop  all  Bertha's  other  re 
grets  as  the  lordly  peak  overrode  the  clouds — and  yet 
she  was  determined  to  go.  Very  quietly  she  told  her 
mother  that  she  had  decided  to  put  off  her  visit  to 
Sibley,  and  at  10:30  she  drove  down  to  the  station  and 
sent  her  away  composedly.  At  the  moment  she  was 
glad  to  get  her  out  of  the  town,  so  that  she  should  not 
share  in  the  grief  of  next  day's  departure.  To  Miss 
Franklin  she  then  confided  the  doctor's  warning,  and 
together  they  began  to  pack. 

Haney,  with  lowering  brow  and  bleeding  heart,  went 
to  his  bed  denouncing  himself.  "I  have  no  right  to 
her.  'Tis  the  time  for  me  to  step  out.  If  the  doctor 
knows  his  business,  'tis  only  a  matter  of  a  few  weeks, 

334 


MONEY    MAGIC 

annyhow,  when  my  seat  in  the  game  will  be  empty. 
Why  not  stay  here  in  me  own  home  and  so  end  it  all 
comfortably?" 

This  was  so  simple — and  yet  he  spent  most  of  the 
night  fighting  the  desire  to  live  out  those  years  the 
doctor  had  promised  him.  It  was  so  sweet  to  sit  op 
posite  that  dear  girl-face  of  a  morning,  to  feel  her  hand 
on  his  hair — now  and  again.  ''She's  only  a  child — she 
can  wait  ten  years  and  still  be  young."  But  then  came 
the  thought:  "  Tis  harder  for  her  to  wait  than  it  is  for 
me  to  go.  'Tis  mere  selfishness.  What  can  I  do  in  the 
world  ?  I  have  no  interest  in  the  game  outside  of  her. 
No,  Mart,  the  consumptive  is  right,  'tis  up  to  you  to  slip 
away,  genteel  and  quiet,  so  that  your  widow  will  not 
be  troubled  by  anny  gossip." 

To  use  the  pistol  was  easy,  the  handle  fitted  his  hand, 
but  to  die  so  that  no  shock  or  shame  would  come  to  her, 
that  was  his  problem.  "I  will  not  leave  her  the  widow 
of  a  suicide,"  he  resolved.  "I  must  go  so  sly,  so  casual- 
like,  that  no  one  will  be  able  to  point  the  finger  at  her 
or  Ben." 

"Can  I  visit  the  mine  once  more?"  he  had  asked 
Steele.  "No,"  the  doctor  had  replied.  "To  go  a  thou 
sand  feet  higher  than  this  would  be  fatal." 

As  he  mused  on  this  he  began  to  feel  the  wonder  of 
the  body  in  which  he  dwelt.  That  a  machine  so  bulky 
and  so  gross  could  be  so  delicate  that  a  change  in  the 
pressure  of  the  atmosphere  might  be  fatal  astonished 
him.  "I'll  soon  know,"  he  said,  "for  I  cross  the  range 
to-morrow." 

The  dark  shadow  of  the  unseen  world,  once  so  dim 
and  far,  now  rose  formidable  as  a  mountain  on  the 
horizon  of  his  thought.  It  was  so  difficult  to  leave 
the  house  in  which  he  had  found  peace  and  a  strange 

335 


MONEY    MAGIC 

kind  of  happiness  (the  happiness  of  a  soldier  home 
on  parole,  convalescent  and  content  under  the  apple- 
trees) — it  was  very  hard — and  the  tenderness,  the  care, 
to  which  his  little  wife  had  returned  and  which  filled 
his  heart  with  sweetness,  added  to  his  irresolution. 

He  fell  into  deep  sleep  at  last,  still  in  debate  with 
himself. 

He  woke  quietly  next  morning,  like  a  child,  and  as  his 
eyes  took  in  the  big  room  in  which  he  had  slept  for 
a  year,  surrounded  by  such  luxury  as  he  had  never 
dreamed  of  having  (even  for  a  day),  life  seemed  very 
easy  of  continuance,  and  Steele  a  mistaken  egotist,  a 
foul  destroyer  of  men's  peace;  but  as  he  rose  to  dress 
and  saw  himself  in  the  glass,  the  figure  he  presented 
decided  his  hand.  Was  this  Mart  Haney  —  this  un 
shaven,  haggard,  and  wrinkled  old  man  ? 

Leaning  close  to  the  mirror,  he  studied  his  face  as  if 
it  were  a  mask.  Deep  creases  ran  down  on  either  side 
of  the  nose,  giving  to  his  gaze  the  morose  expression  of 
an  aged,  slavering  mastiff.  His  nerveless  cheeks  de 
pended.  His  neck  was  stringy.  Puffy  sacs  lay  under 
the  eyes,  and  the  ashen  pallor  of  his  skin  told  how  the 
heart  was  laboring  to  maintain  life's  red  current  in  its 
round. 

As  he  looked  his  decision  was  taken.  "Mart,  the 
game  has  run  mostly  in  your  favor  for  twenty-five  years 
—but  'tis  agin  ye  now.  The  quiet  old  gentleman  with 
the  bony  grin  holds  the  winning  fist.  Lay  down  your 
cards  and  quit  the  board  this  day,  like  a  man.  Why 
drag  on  like  this  for  a  year  or  two  more,  a  burden  to 
yourself  and  a  curse  to  her." 

And  yet,  though  crippled  and  gray,  death  was  some 
how  more  dreadful  to  him  at  this  moment  than  when 
in  his  remorseless  and  powerful  young  manhood  he 

336 


MONEY    MAGIC 

had  looked  again  and  again  into  the  murderous  eyes  of 
those  who  were  eager  to  shed  his  blood.  He  shivered 
at  the  thought  of  the  dark  river,  as  those  whose  limbs 
having  grown  pale  and  thin  dread  the  cold  wind  of  the 
night. 

"I  wonder  is  the  mother  over  there  waitin'  fer  me?" 
he  half  whispered.  "If  ye  are,  your  soul  will  be  float 
ing  far  above  me  in  the  light,  while  I  —  burdened  by 
me  sins — must  wallow  below  in  purgatory.  But  I  go, 
and  the  divil  take  his  toll." 

There  was  not  much  preparation  to  be  made.  His 
will  was  written,  fully  attested,  and  filed  in  a  safe  place. 
His  small  personal  belongings  he  was  willing  to  leave 
in  Bertha's  hands.  It  was  hardest  of  all  to  vanish 
without  a  word  of  good-bye  to  any  soul,  but  this  was 
essential  to  his  plan.  "No  one  must  suspect  design  in 
me  departure,"  he  muttered.  "I  must  drop  out — by  ac 
cident.  I  must  cut  loose  during  the  day,  too — no  night 
trips  for  me  —  in  a  way  that  will  look  natural.  If 
Steele  knows  his  business,  Mart  Haney  will  go  out  of 
the  game  on  the  summit,  if  not,  'tis  easy  for  a  cripple 
to  stagger  and  fall  from  a  rock.  Thank  God,  I  leave 
her  as  I  found  her — small  credit  to  me  in  that." 

Lucius,  coming  in  soon  after,  found  his  master  un 
expectedly  cheerful  and  vigorous. 

In  answer  to  his  query,  the  gambler  said:  "I  take  me 
medicine,  Lucius,  like  a  Cheyenne.  'Tis  all  in  the  game. 
Some  man  must  lose  in  order  that  another  may  win. 
The  wheel  rolls  and  the  board  is  charged  in  favor  of 
the  bank.  Damn  the  man  that  squeals  when  the  cards 
fall  fair." 


CHAPTER    XXVIII 

VIRTUE    TRIUMPHS 

MA.RT  maintained  his  deceptive  cheer  at  the  break 
fast-table,  and  the  haggard  look  of  the  earlier 
hour  passed  away  as  he  resolutely  attacked  his  chop. 
He  spoke  of  his  exile  in  a  tone  of  resignation — mixed 
with  humor.  "Sure,  the  old  dad  will  have  the  laugh 
on  us.  He  told  us  this  was  the  jumpin'-off  place." 

"What  will  we  do  about  the  house?"  asked  Bertha. 
"Will  we  sell  or  rent?" 

"Nayther.  Lave  it  as  it  is,"  replied  he  quickly. 
"So  long  as  I  live  I  want  to  feel  'tis  here  ready  for  ye 
whinever  ye  wish  to  use  it.  Tis  not  mine.  Without 
you  I  never  would  have  had  it,  and  I  want  no  other 
mistress  in  it.  Sure,  every  chair,  every  picture  on  the 
walls  is  there  because  of  ye.  'Tis  all  you,  and  no  one 
else  shall  mar  it  while  I  live." 

This  was  the  note  which  was  most  piercing  in  her 
ears,  and  she  hastened  to  stop  it  by  remarking  the 
expense  of  maintaining  the  place — its  possible  decay 
and  the  like;  but  to  all  this  he  doggedly  replied:  "I 
care  not.  I'd  rather  burn  it  and  all  there  is  in  it  than 
turn  it  over  to  some  other  woman.  Go  you  to  Ben  and 
tell  him  my  will  concerning  it." 

This  gave  a  new  turn  to  her  thought.  "I  don't  want 
to  do  that.  Why  don't  you  go  and  tell  him  yourself?" 

"Didn't  the  doctor  say  I  must  save  meself  worry? 
338 


MONEY    MAGIC 

I  hate  to  ask  ye  to  shoulder  the  heavy  end  of  this 
proposition."  His  face  lost  its  forced  smile.  "I'm 
a  sick  man,  darlin';  I  know  it  now,  and  I  must  save 
meself  all  I  can.  Ye  may  send  Lucius  down  and  bring 
him  up,  or  we'll  drive  down  and  see  him;  maybe  the 
ride  would  do  me  good,  but  I  can't  climb  them  stairs 
ag'in." 

The  temptation  to  see  Ben  once  more,  alone  in  the 
bright  office,  proved  too  great  for  Bertha's  resolution, 
and  she  answered:  "All  right,  I'll  go,  but  only  to  bring 
him  down  to  you.  You  must  give  the  orders  about  the 
house." 

In  spite  of  his  iron  determination  to  be  of  good  cheer 
in  her  presence,  Mart's  lips  quivered  with  pain  of  part 
ing  as  he  looked  round  the  splendid  dining-room,  into 
which  the  sunlight  was  pouring.  Suddenly  he  broke 
forth:  "Ye  must  stay  here,  darlin' — never  mind  me. 
Tis  a  sin  and  a  shame  to  ask  ye  to  lave  all  this  to  go 
with  a  poor  old — " 

"Stop  that!"  she  called,  sharply.  "I  won't  listen  to 
any  such  talk,"  and  he  said  no  more. 

They  decided  to  go  down  about  ten  o'clock,  when  the 
daily  tide  of  his  life  rode  highest.  This  hour  suited  his 
own  plan,  for  a  train  left  for  the  mountains  not  long  after, 
and  he  had  resolved  to  make  his  escape  while  Bertha 
was  with  Ben  in  the  office.  "There  will  be  no  need  of 
any  change  in  the  house,"  he  thought,  "but  'twill  do 
no  hurt  for  them  to  talk  it  all  over." 

For  an  hour  or  two  he  hobbled  about  the  yard  and 
garden,  taking  a  final  look  at  the  horses  and  dogs,  and 
his  face  was  very  lax  and  gray  and  his  voice  broken 
as  he  talked  with  his  men,  who  had  learned  of  the  doc 
tor's  orders,  and  were  awkwardly  silent  with  sympathy. 
He  soon  grew  tired  and  came  back  to  the  porch  to  rest 

339 


MONEY    MAGIC 

and  wait  for  the  hour  of  his  departure.  Settling  into 
his  accustomed  chair,  which  faced  directly  upon  the 
mountains  over  which  the  sun,  wearing  to  the  south, 
was  beginning  to  hang  its  vivid  shadows,  he  sat  like 
a  man  of  bronze.  The  clouds  which  each  day  clothed 
the  scarred  and  naked  peaks  with  a  mantle  of  ermine 
and  purple,  were  already  assembling.  The  range  as 
sumed  a  new  and  overpowering  grandeur  in  his  eyes, 
for  it  typified  the  Big  Divide,  which  lay  between  him 
and  the  country  of  the  soundless,  dawnless  night. 

Up  that  deep  fold  which  lay  between  the  chieftain 
and  his  consort  to  the  north  ran  the  western  way — a 
trail  with  no  returning  footprints;  and  the  thought 
made  his  heart  beat  painfully,  while  a  sense  of  the  won 
der  and  the  terror  of  death  came  to  him.  He  was 
going  away  as  the  wounded  grizzly  crawls  to  the 
thicket  to  die,  unseen  of  his  kind,  even  of  his  mate. 

To  never  return!  To  mount  and  mount,  each  league 
separating  him  forever  from  the  mansion  he  had  come 
to  enjoy,  the  wife  he  loved  better  than  his  own  life. 
"I  cannot  believe  it,"  he  whispered,  "and  yet  I  must 
make  it  so." 

Then  he  began  to  wonder,  grimly,  just  when  his  heart 
would  fail,  just  where  it  would  burst  like  a  rotten  cinch. 
"Will  it  be  on  the  train?  Suppose  I  last  to  the  coal- 
switch,  then  I  must  climb  to  the  mine.  Suppose  I  live 
to  reach  the  mine,  then  what?  Oh,  well,  'tis  easy  to 
slip  from  the  cliff." 

Meanwhile,  out  under  the  trees,  the  gardener  was 
spading  turf,  the  lawn-mower  was  purring  briskly  and 
as  though  no  sentence  of  death  had  been  passed  upon 
the  master  of  the  place.  In  this  Haney  saw  the  world's 
action  typified.  The  individual  is  of  little  value — the 
race  alone  counts. 

340 


MONEY    MAGIC 

He  shuffled  down  to  meet  the  carriage  at  the  gate, 
and  Lucius  helped  him  in  before  Bertha  could  reach 
him,  and  they  drove  off  down  the  street  so  exactly  in 
their  usual  way  that  Bertha  was  moved  to  say:  "I 
don't  believe  it!  I  can't  realize  we're  quitting  this 
town  to-morrow." 

"No  more  can  I,  but  I  reckon  it's  good-bye  all  the 
same — for  me,  annyhow.  I  despise  meself  for  asking 
ye  to  go,  darlin'  —  I  don't  ask  it.  Stay  you!  I'm 
not  demanding  annything  at  all.  Tis  fitter  for  me  to 
go  alone.  Stay  on,  darlin' — 'twill  comfort  me  to  lave 
ye  safe  and  happy  here." 

She  shook  her  head  with  quite  as  much  determina 
tion  as  he.  "No,  Mart,  my  mind  is  made  up — I  know 
my  job,  and  I'm  going  to  muckle  to  it  like  a  little  lady, 
so  don't  fuss." 

The  air  was  beautifully  clear  and  bracing,  and  a 
minute  later  Haney  remarked,  sadly:  "I  reckon  the 
doctor  knows  his  trade,  but  'tis  bitter  nonsense  to  me 
when  a  man  says  the  murky  wind  of  the  low  country  is 
better  for  a  sick  man  than  this." 

She  was  very  tender  at  heart  as  she  replied:  "I'm 
afraid  he's  right,  Mart.  I  could  see  you  weren't  so 
well  here;  but  I  was  selfish — I  tried  to  argue  different. 
You'll  be  better  down  below,  that's  dead  certain." 

"Well,  the  bets  are  all  laid  and  the  wheel  spinning. 
I'm  ready  to  take  me  exile — but  I  hate  to  drag  ye  down 
with  me." 

"Don't  worry  about  me,"  she  answered,  with  intent 
to  reassure  him.  "To  be  honest,  I  kind  o'  like  the 
East." 

At  the  door  of  Ben's  office  building  she  got  out,  leav 
ing  him  in  the  carriage.  As  she  looked  back  at  him 
from  the  doorway  something  which  seemed  like  an- 

34i 


MONEY    MAGIC 

guish  in  his  face  moved  her,  and  she  returned  to  the 
wheel  to  say,  "Never  mind,  Mart,  we'll  buy  a  new 
home  down  there." 

He  was  struggling  as  if  with  the  pangs  of  death,  but 
he  said,  "'Tis  childish,  I  know,  but  I  hate  to  say  good 
bye  to  it  all." 

She  patted  his  hand  as  if  soothing  a  child,  and,  turn 
ing,  mounted  the  stairway.  How  weak  and  old  he 
seemed  at  the  moment! 

Fordyce  was  at  work.  She  could  hear  his  typewriter 
click  laboriously  (he  was  his  own  typist  as  yet),  and  she 
stood  for  a  moment  in  the  hall  with  hand  pressed  hard 
upon  her  bosom,  the  full  significance  of  this  last  visit 
overwhelming  her.  Here  was  the  end  of  her  own  hap 
piness — the  beginning  of  long-drawn  misery  and  heart- 
hunger.  Her  blood  beat  tumultuously  in  her  throat, 
and  each  throb  was  a  physical,  smothering  pain. 

At  last  she  grew  calmer  and  knocked.  Ben  opened 
the  door,  and  his  face  shone  with  joy.  "You're  late!" 
he  reproachfully  exclaimed;  then,  as  he  peered  into  the 
hall,  he  asked,  "Where's  the  Captain?" 

She  was  very  white  as  she  answered:  "He  can't  come 
up  this  morning.  He  ain't  able." 

"Is  he  worse?"     His  face  expressed  swift  concern. 

"Yes — Dr.  Steele  came  last  night  and  examined 
him—" 

"What  did  he  say?" 

"He  told  us  to  'get  out'  of  here — quick." 

He  drew  her  in  and  shut  the  door.  ' '  Tell  me  all  about 
it.  What  is  the  matter?" 

"It's  his  heart.  He  can't  stand  it  here.  We've  got 
to  get  away — down  the  slope — to-morrow." 

"Not  to  stay?" 

"That's  what  Steele  says.     Mart's  in  bad  shape." 
342 


MONEY    MAGIC 

He  searched  her  face  with  earnest  gaze.  "I  can't 
understand  that.  He  seemed  so  happy  and  so  much 
better,  too." 

"He's  been  a  good  deal  worse  than  he  let  on,  or  else 
he  fooled  himself.  The  doctor  found  his  heart  jumping 
cogs  right  along." 

"And  he  positively  ordered  you  to  go  below?" 

"Yes — he  scared  me.  He  said  Mart  might  die  any 
minute — if  he  stayed." 

In  the  silence  that  followed  his  face  became  almost  as 
white  as  her  own,  for  he  understood  and  shared  her 
temptation.  At  last  he  said,  slowly,  "And  you  are  go 
ing  with  him?" 

"Yes,  I  must.     Don't  you  see  I  must?" 

He  understood,  too.  Haney  had  refused  to  go  with 
out  her,  and  to  stay  would  be  to  shorten  his  life. 

"How  did  the  Captain  take  it?"  he  asked  with  effort. 

"Mighty  hard  at  first,  but  he's  fairly  cheerful  to-day. 
He  wants  to  leave  me  here — but  I'm  going  with  him. 
It's  my  business  to  be  where  he  is,"  she  added.  "He 
sure  needs  me  now." 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  with  the  house?" 

"Leave  it  just  as  it  is.  He  won't  sell  it  or  rent  it. 
He  wants  you  to  look  after  all  his  business  just  the 
same — 

"I  can't  do  that." 

"Why  not?" 

"Because  I  don't  intend  to  stay  here."  As  he  spoke 
his  excitement  mounted.  "My  little  world  was  all 
askew  before  you  came.  You've  put  the  finishing- 
touch  to  it.  I'm  ready  to  make  my  own  will. at  this 
moment." 

"You  mustn't  talk  that  way,"  she  admonished.  "I 
don't  like  to  see  you  lose  your  grip."  Her  words  were 
23  343 


MONEY   MAGIC 

commonplace,  but  her  hesitating,  tremulous  voice  be 
trayed  her  and  exalted  him.  "I'm — we  are  depending 
on  you." 

His  face,  his  eyes,  filled  her  with  light.  She  forgot 
all  the  rest  of  the  world  for  the  moment,  and  he,  looking 
upon  her  with  a  knowledge  that  she  loved  him  and  was 
about  to  leave  him,  spoke  fatefully — as  if  the  words 
came  forth  in  spite  of  his  will.  "You  don't  seem  to 
realize  how  deeply  I'm  going  to  miss  you.  You  can 
not  know  how  much  your  presence  means  to  me  here 
in  this  small  town.  I  will  not  stay  on  without  the 
hope  of  seeing  you.  If  you  go,  I  will  not  remain  here 
another  day." 

She  fought  against  the  feeling  of  pride,  of  joy,  which 
these  words  gave  her.  "You  mustn't  say  that — you've 
got  to  stay  with  Alice." 

"Alice!"  his  voice  rose.  "Alice  has  given  me  back  my 
ring  and  is  going  home.  When  you  are  gone,  what  is 
left  in  this  town  for  me  ?"  He  rose  and  walked  up  and 
down,  a  choking  sob  in  his  throat.  "My  God!  It's 
horrible  to  feel  our  good  days  ending  in  a  crash  like 
this.  What  does  it  all  mean?  I  refuse  to  admit  that 
our  shining  little  world  is  only  a  house  of  cards.  Are 
we  never  to  see  each  other  again?  I  refuse  to  say 
good-bye.  I  won't  have  it  so!"  He  faced  her  again 
with  curt  inquiry.  "Where  are  you  going  to  live?" 

"I  don't  know — maybe  in  Chicago — maybe  in  New 
York." 

"No  matter  where  it  is,  I  will  come  to  you.  I  can 
not  lose  you  out  of  my  life — I  will  not!" 

"No,  you  mustn't  do  that.  It  ain't  square  to  Mart— 
I  can't  see  you  any  more — now." 

He  seized  upon  the  significance  of  that  little  final 
word.  "What  do  you  mean  by  now?  Do  you  mean 

344 


MONEY    MAGIC 

because  Mart  is  worse  ?  Or  do  you  mean  that  I  have 
forfeited  your  good-will  by  my  own  action  ?"  He  came 
closer  to  her  and  his  voice  was  low  and  insistent  as  he 
continued:  "Or  do  you  mean — something  very  sweet 
and  comforting  to  me  ?  Do  you  love  me,  Bertie  ?  Do 
you?  Is  that  your  meaning?" 

She  struggled  against  him  as  she  answered:  "I  don't 
know —  Yes,  I  do  know — it  ain't  right  for  me — for 
you  to  say  these  things  to  me  while  I  am  Mart  Ha- 
ney's  wife." 

He  caught  at  her  hands  and  looked  upon  her  with 
face  grown  older  and  graver  as  he  bitterly  wailed: 
"Why  couldn't  we  have  met  before  you  went  to  him? 
You  must  not  go  with  him  now,  for  you  are  mine  at 
heart,  you  belong  to  me." 

She  rose  with  instinctive  desire  to  flee,  but  he  held 
her  hands  in  both  of  his  and  hurried  on:  "You  do  love 
me!  I  am  sure  of  it!  Why  try  to  conceal  it?  You 
would  marry  me  if  you  were  free?"  His  eyes  pierced 
her  as  he  proceeded,  transformed  by  the  power  of  his 
own  plea.  "We  belong  to  each  other  —  don't  you 
know  we  do?  I  am  sorry  for  Alice,  but  I  do  not  love 
her- — I  never  loved  her  as  I  love  you.  She  understands 
this.  That  is  why  she  has  returned  my  ring — there  is 
nothing  further  for  me  to  say  to  her.  As  for  Marshall 
Haney  I  pity  him,  as  you  do,  but  he  has  no  right  to 
claim  you." 

"He  don't  claim  me.     He  wants  me  to  stay  here." 

"Then  why  don't  you?" 

"Because  he  needs  me." 

"So  do  I  need  you." 

"But  not  the  way  —  I  mean  he  is  sick  and  help 
less." 

He  drew  her  closer.  "You  must  not  go.  I  will  not 
345 


MONEY    MAGIC 

let  you  go.  You're  a  part  of  my  life  now."  His  words 
ceased,  but  his  eyes  called  with  burning  intensity. 

She  struggled,  not  against  him,  but  in  opposition  to 
something  within  herself  which  seemed  about  to  over 
whelm  her  will.  It  was  so  easy  to  listen,  to  yield — and 
so  hard  to  free  her  hands  and  turn  away,  but  the 
thought  of  Haney  waiting,  and  a  knowledge  of  his  con 
fident  trust  in  her,  brought  back  her  sterner  self. 

"No!"  she  cried  out  sharply,  imperiously.  "I  won't 
have  it!  You  mustn't  touch  me  again,  not  while  he 
lives!  You  mustn't  even  see  me  again!" 

He  understood  and  respected  her  resolution,  but 
could  not  release  her  at  the  moment.  "Won't  you 
kiss  me  good-bye?" 

She  drew  her  hands  away.  "No,  it's  all  wrong,  and 
you  know  it!  I'll  despise  you  if  you  touch  me  again! 
Good-bye!" 

Thereupon  his  clean,  bright,  honorable  soul  respond 
ed  to  her  reproof,  rose  to  dominion  over  the  flesh,  and 
he  said:  "Forgive  me.  I  didn't  mean  to  tempt  you 
to  anything  wrong.  Good-bye!"  and  so  they  parted 
in  such  anguish  as  only  lovers  know  when  farewells 
seem  final,  and  their  empty  hearts,  calling  for  a  word 
of  promise,  are  denied. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

MARSHALL    HANEY's    LAST   TRAIL 

MARSHALL  HANEY  was  a  brave  man,  and  his 
resolution  was  fully  taken,  but  that  final  touch  of 
Bertha's  hand  upon  his  arm  very  nearly  unnerved  him. 
His  courage  abruptly  fell  away,  and,  leaning  back 
against  the  cushions  of  his  carriage,  with  closed  eyelids 
(from  which  the  hot  tears  dripped) ,  he  gave  himself  up 
to  the  temptation  of  a  renewal  of  his  life.  It  was  hard 
er  to  go,  infinitely  harder,  because  of  that  impulsive, 
sweet  caress.  Her  face  was  so  beautiful,  too,  with  that 
upward,  tender,  pitying  look  upon  it! 

While  still  he  sat  weak  and  hesitant,  a  roughly  dressed 
man  of  large  and  decisive  movement  stopped  and  greet 
ed  him.  "Hello,  Mart,  how  are  you  this  fine  day  ?" 

Haney  put  his  tragic  mask  away  with  a  stroke  of  his 
hand,  and  hastily  replied:  "Comin'  along,  Dan,  comin' 
along.  How  are  things  up  on  the  peak?" 

"Still  pretty  mixed,"  replied  the  miner,  lightly;  then, 
with  a  further  look  around,  he  stepped  a  little  nearer 
the  wheel.  "Hell's  about  to  break  loose  again,  Mart." 

"What's  the  latest?" 

"I  can't  go  into  details,  and  I  mustn't  be  seen  talk 
ing  with  you,  but  Williams  is  in  for  trouble.  Tell  him 
to  reverse  engine  for  a  few  weeks.  Good-day,"  and  he 
walked  off,  leaving  the  impression  of  having  been  sent 
to  convey  a  friendly  warning. 

34? 


MONEY    MAGIC 

Haney  seized  upon  this  message.  His  resolution 
returned.  His  voice  took  on  edge  and  decision. 
"Oscar,"  he  called  quickly,  "drive  me  down  to  the 
station,  I  want  to  get  that  ten-thirty-seven  train." 

As  the  driver  chirruped  to  his  horses  and  swung  out 
into  the  street,  Marshall  Haney,  with  full  understanding 
that  this  was  to  be  his  eternal  farewell,  turned  and 
looked  up,  hoping  to  catch  a  last  glimpse  of  his  wife's 
sweet  face  at  the  window.  A  sign,  a  smile,  a  beckoning, 
and  his  purpose  might  still  have  faltered,  but  the  recall 
did  not  take  place,  and  facing  the  west  he  became  again 
the  man  of  will.  When  the  carriage  drew  up  to  the 
platform  he  gave  orders  to  his  coachman  as  quietly  as 
though  this  were  his  usual  morning  ride.  ' '  Now,  Oscar, 
you  heard  what  that  friend  of  mine  said?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Well,  forget  it." 

"Very  well,  sir." 

"But  tell  Mrs.  Haney  I've  gone  up  to  the  mine.  You 
can  say  to  her  that  Williams  sent  for  me.  You  can 
tell  her,  but  to  no  one  else,  what  you  heard  Dan  say. 
You  understand?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"All  right,  that  stands.  Now  you  go  home  and  wait 
till  about  twelve- thirty.  Then  go  down  for  Mrs.  Ha 
ney." 

The  coachman,  a  stolid,  reliable  man,  well  trained  to 
his  duties,  did  not  offer  to  assist  his  master,  but  sat  in 
most  approved  alertness  upon  his  box  while  Haney 
painfully  descended  to  the  walk. 

The  train  was  about  to  move,  and  the  conductor  had 
already  signalled  the  engineer  to  "go  ahead,"  but  at 
sight  of  the  gambler,  whom  he  knew,  stopped  the  train 
and  helped  Haney  aboard.  "A  minute  more  and  you 

348 


MONEY    MAGIC 

would  have  been  left.  Going  up  to  the  mine,  I 
reckon?" 

They  were  still  on  the  platform  as  Mart  answered, 
"Yes,  I'm  due  to  take  a  hand  in  the  game  up  there." 
He  said  this  with  intent  to  cover  his  trail. 

He  was  all  but  breathless  as  he  dropped  into  a  seat 
near  the  door.  The  sense  of  leaden  weakness  with 
which  he  had  come  to  struggle  daily  had  deepened  at 
the  moment  into  a  smothering  pain  which  threatened 
to  blind  him. 

"I  must  be  quiet,"  he  thought — "I  will  not  die  in  the 
car."  There  seemed  something  disgraceful,  something 
ignominious  in  such  a  death. 

Gradually  his  fear  of  this  misfortune  grew  less. 
"What  does  it  matter  where  death  comes  or  when  it 
comes?  The  quicker  the  better  for  all  concerned." 

Nevertheless,  he  opened  the  little  phial  of  medicine 
which  Steele  had  given  him  and  swallowed  two  of  the 
pellets.  That  they  were  a  powerful  stimulant  of  the 
heart  he  knew,  but  that  an  overdose  would  kill  he  only 
suspected  from  Steele 's  word  of  caution. 

They  were,  indeed,  magical  in  their  effect.  His  brain 
cleared,  his  pulse  grew  stronger,  and  the  feeling  of  be 
numbing  weakness  which  dismayed  him  passed  away. 

The  conductor,  on  his  round,  found  him  sitting 
silently  at  the  window,  very  pale  and  very  stern,  his 
eyes  fixed  upon  the  brawling  stream  along  whose  wind 
ing  course  the  railway  climbed.  While  noting  the  num 
ber  of  Mart's  pass  the  official  leaned  over  and  spoke  in 
a  low  voice,  but  Haney  heard  what  he  said  as  through 
a  mist.  He  was  no  longer  moved  by  the  sound  of  the 
bugle.  A  labor  war  was  temporary,  like  a  storm  in 
the  pines.  It  might  arrest  the  mining  for  a  few  weeks 
pr  a  month,  but  through  it  all,  no  matter  what  hap- 

349 


MONEY    MAGIC 

pened,  deep  down  in  the  earth  lay  Bertha's  wealth, 
secure  of  any  marauder.  So  much  he  was  able  to 
reason  out. 

One  or  two  of  the  passengers  who  knew  him  drew 
near,  civilly  inquiring  as  to  his  health,  and  to  each  one 
he  explained  that  he  was  on  the  gain  and  that  he  was 
going  up  to  the  camp  to  study  conditions  for  himself. 
They  were  all  greatly  excited  by  the  news  of  battle,  but 
they  did  not  succeed  in  conveying  their  emotion  to 
Haney.  With  impassive  countenance  he  listened,  and 
at  the  end  remarked:  '"Tis  all  of  a  stripe  to  me,  boys. 
I'm  like  the  soldier  on  the  battle-field  with  both  legs 
shot  off.  I  hear  the  shouting  and  the  tumult,  but  I'm 
out  of  the  running." 

Without  understanding  his  mood,  they  withdrew, 
leaving  him  alone.  His  mind  went  back  to  Bertha. 
"What  will  she  do  when  she  finds  me  gone?  She  will 
not  be  scared  at  first.  She  will  wire  to  stop  me;  but 
no  matter — before  she  can  reach  me,  I'll  be  high  in  the 
hills." 

He  could  not  prevent  his  mind  from  dwelling  on  her. 
He  tried  to  fix  his  thoughts  upon  his  life  as  a  boyish 
adventurer,  but  could  not  keep  to  those  earlier  periods 
of  his  career.  All  of  his  days  before  meeting  her  seemed 
base  or  trivial  or  purposeless.  She  filled  his  memory 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  loves  and  desires.  She 
was  at  once  his  wife  and  his  child.  He  possessed 
a  thousand  bright  pictures  of  her  swift  and  graceful 
body,  her  sunny  smile,  her  sweet,  grave  eyes.  He  re 
called  the  first  time  he  saw  her  on  the  street  in  Sibley* 
and  groaned  to  think  how  basely  he  had  planned  against 
her.  "She  never  knew  that,  thank  God!"  he  said,  fer 
vently. 

Then  came  that  unforgetable  drive  to  the  ranch, 
35Q 


MONEY    MAGIC 

when  she  put  her  hand  in  his — and  on  this  hour  he 
dwelt  long,  searching  his  mind  deeply  in  order  that  no 
grain  of  its  golden  store  of  incident  should  escape  him. 
His  throat  again  began  to  ache  with  a  full  sense  of  the 
loss  he  was  inflicting  upon  himself.  "Tis  a  lonely 
trail  I'm  takin'  for  your  sake,  darlin',"  he  whispered, 
"but  'tis  all  for  the  best." 

Slowly  the  train  creaked  and  circled  up  the  heights, 
following  the  sharp  turnings  of  the  stream,  passing 
small  towns  which  were  in  effect  summer  camps  of 
pleasure-seekers,  on  and  upward  into  the  moist  heights 
where  the  grass  was  yet  green  and  the  slopes  gay  with 
flowers.  A  mood  of  exaltation  came  upon  the  doomed 
man  as  he  rose.  This  was  the  place  to  die — up  here 
where  the  affairs  of  men  sank  into  insignificance  like 
the  sound  of  the  mills  and  the  rumble  of  trains.  Here 
the  centuries  circled  like  swallows  and  the  personal 
was  lost  in  the  ocean  of  silence. 

At  one  of  these  towns  which  stood  almost  at  the 
summit  of  the  pass  the  conductor  brought  a  telegram, 
and  Mart  seized  it  with  eager,  trembling  hands.  It  was 
(as  he  expected)  a  warning  from  Bertha.  She  im 
plored  him  to  let  the  mine  go  and  to  return  by  the 
next  train. 

He  was  too  nerveless  of  fingers  to  put  the  sheet  back 
within  its  envelope,  and  so  thrust  it,  a  crumpled  mass, 
into  his  pocket.  It  was  as  if  her  hand  was  at  his 
shoulder,  her  voice  in  his  ear,  but  he  did  not  falter. 
To  go  back  now  would  be  but  a  renewal  of  his  torture. 
There  could  not  come  a  better  time  to  go — to  go  and 
leave  no  suspicion  of  his  purpose  behind  him. 

Just  over  the  summit,  at  a  bare  little  station,  the 
train  was  held  for  orders,  and  Haney,  who  was  again 
suffocating  and  almost  blind,  took  another  dose  of  the 


MONEY    MAGIC 

mysterious  drug,  and  with  its  effect  returned  to  a  dim 
perception  of  his  surroundings.  He  was  able  vaguely 
to  recall  that  a  trail  which  began  just  back  of  the  depot 
mounted  the  hill  towards  his  largest  mine.  A  desire  to 
see  Williams,  his  faithful  partner,  his  most  loyal  friend, 
came  over  him,  and,  rising  to  his  feet,  he  painfully 
crept  down  the  aisle  to  the  rear  of  the  car  and  dropped 
off  unnoticed,  just  as  the  conductor's  warning  cry  start 
ed  a  rush  for  the  train. 

As  the  last  coach  disappeared  round  the  turn  the 
essential  bleak  loneliness  of  the  place  returned.  The 
station  seemed  deserted  by  every  human  being,  even 
the  operator  was  lost  to  sight,  and  the  gambler,  utter 
ly  solitary,  with  clouded  brain  and  laboring  breath, 
turned  towards  the  height,  his  left  leg  dragging  like  a 
shackle. 

For  the  first  half-mile  the  way  was  easy,  and  by 
moving  slowly  he  suffered  less  pain  than  he  had  ex 
pected.  Around  him  the  frost  -  smitten  aspens  were 
shivering  in  the  wind,  their  sparse  leaves  dangling  like 
coins  of  red  -  and  -  yellow  gold,  and  all  the  billowing 
land  below,  to  the  west,  was  iridescent  with  green  and 
flame-color  and  crimson.  A  voiceless  regret,  a  dim, 
wide-reaching,  wistful  sadness  came  over  him,  but  did 
not  shake  his  resolution.  He  had  but  to  look  down  at 
his  crippled  body  to  know  that  the  beauty  of  the  world 
was  no  longer  his  to  enjoy.  His  days  were  now  but 
days  of  pain. 

He  had  always  loved  the  heights.  From  the  time 
he  had  first  sighted  this  range  he  had  never  failed  to 
experience  a  peculiar  exaltation  as  he  mounted  above 
the  ranch  and  the  mine.  Gambler  and  night  -  owl 
though  he  had  been,  he  had  often  spent  his  afternoons 
on  horseback  riding  high  above  the  camps,  and  now 

35? 


HE    LAY    WITH    HIS    HEAD    PILLOWED    UPON    HIS    LEFT    ARM 


MONEY    MAGIC 

some  small  part  of  his  love  of  the  upper  air  came  back 
to  lead  him  towards  his  grave.  With  face  turned  to 
the  solitudes  of  the  snows,  with  ever-faltering  steps, 
he  commenced  his  challenging  march  towards  death. 

At  the  first  sharp  up-raise  in  the  way  his  heart  began 
to  pound  and  he  swayed  blindly  to  and  fro,  unable  to 
proceed.  For  an  instant  he  looked  down  in  dismay  at 
the  rocky,  waiting  earth,  a  most  inhospitable  grave.  A 
few  minutes'  rest  against  a  tree,  and  his  brain  cleared. 
"Higher — I  must  go  higher,"  he  said  to  himself;  "they'll 
find  me  here." 

As  he  rose  he  could  see  the  town  spread  wide  on  the 
hill-tops  beneath  him — the  cabins  mere  cubes,  the  mill 
a  child's  toy.  He  could  discern  men  like  ants  moving 
to  and  fro  as  if  in  some  special  excitement — but  he  did 
not  concern  himself  with  the  cause.  His  one  thought 
was  to  mount — to  blend  with  the  firs  and  the  rocks. 
He  drew  the  phial  from  his  pocket  and  held  it  in  his 
hand  in  readiness,  with  a  dull  fear  that  the  chemical 
would  prove  too  small,  too  weak,  to  end  his  pain. 

It  was  utterly  silent  and  appallingly  lonely  on  this 
side  of  the  great  peak.  Hunters  were  few  and  pros 
pectors  were  seldom  seen.  These  upward  -  looping 
trails  led  to  no  mine  —  only  to  abandoned  prospect 
holes  —  for  no  mineral  had  ever  been  found  on  the 
western  slope.  The  copses  held  no  life  other  than  a 
few  minute  squirrels,  and  no  sound  broke  the  silence 
save  the  insolent  cry  of  an  occasional  jay  or  camp- 
bird.  To  die  here  was  surely  to  die  alone  and  to  lie 
alone,  as  the  fallen  cedar  lies,  wrought  upon  by  the 
wind  and  the  snows  and  the  rain. 

Nevertheless,  his  suicidal  idea  persisted.  It  had  be 
come  the  one  final,  overpowering,  directing  resolution. 
There  is  no  passion  more  persistent  than  that  which 

353 


MONEY    MAGIC 

leads  to  self-destruction.  In  the  midst  of  the  blinding 
swirl  of  his  thought  he  maintained  his  purpose  to  put 
himself  above  the  world  of  human  effort  and  to  become 
a  brother  of  the  clod,  to  mix  forever  with  the  mould. 

Slowly  he  dragged  himself  upward,  foot  by  foot, 
seeking  the  friendly  helter  and  obscurity  of  a  grove 
of  firs  just  above  him.  Twice  he  sank  to  his  knees,  a 
numbing  pain  at  the  base  of  his  brain,  his  breath  roar 
ing,  his  lips  dry,  but  each  time  he  rose  and  struggled  on, 
eager  to  reach  the  green  and  grateful  shelter  of  the 
forest,  filled  with  desire  to  thrust  himself  into  its  solitude ; 
and  when  at  last  he  felt  the  chill  of  the  shadow  and 
realized  that  he  was  surely  hidden  from  all  the  world, 
he  turned,  poised  for  an  instant  on  a  mound  where  the 
trail  doubled  sharply,  gave  one  long,  slow  glance  around, 
then  hurled  himself  down  the  rocky  slope.  Even  as 
he  leaped  his  heart  seemed  to  burst  and  he  fell  like  a 
clod  and  lay  without  further  motion.  It  was  as  if  he 
had  been  smitten  in  flight  by  a  rifle-ball. 

Around  him  the  small  animals  of  the  wood  frolicked, 
and  the  jay  called  inquiringly,  but  he  neither  saw  nor 
heard.  He  was  himself  but  a  gasping  creature,  with 
reason  entirely  engaged  in  the  blind  struggle  which  the 
physical  organism  was  instinctively  making  to  continue 
in  its  wonted  ways.  All  the  world  and  all  his  desires, 
save  a  longing  for  his  fair  young  wife,  were  lost  out  of 
his  mind,  and  he  thought  of  Bertha  only  in  a  dim  and 
formless  way — feeling  his  need  of  her  and  dumbly  won 
dering  why  she  did  not  come.  In  final,  desperate  agony, 
he  lifted  the  phial  of  strychnine  to  his  lips,  hoping  that 
it  might  put  an  end  to  his  suffering ;  but  before  this  act 
was  completed  a  sweet,  devouring  flood  of  forgetfulness 
swept  over  him,  his  hand  dropped,  and  the  unopened 
"bottle  rolled  away  out  of  his  reach.  Then  the  golden 

354 


MONEY    MAGIC 

sunlight  darkened  out  of  his  sky,  and  he  died — as  the 
desert  lion  dies — alone. 

When  they  found  him  two  days  later  he  lay  with  his 
head  pillowed  upon  his  left  arm,  his  right  hand  out 
spread  upon  the  pine  leaves — palm  upward  as  if  to 
show  its  emptiness.  A  bird — the  roguish  gray  mag 
pie — had  stolen  away  the  phial  as  if  in  consideration 
of  the  dead  man's  wish,  and  no  sign  of  his  last  despairing 
act  was  visible  to  those  who  looked  into  his  face.  His 
going  was  well  planned.  Self-murder  was  never  written 
opposite  the  name  of  Marshall  Haney. 


THE    END 


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